Peter's Friends
In this 1992 comedy-drama, directed by Kenneth Branagh, Peter (Stephen Fry) invites his old university chums and their partners to spend New Year's Eve at the country house he recently inherited. During the course of the weekend, there will be laughter and tears, problems will be resolved and secrets revealed. Hugh plays Roger, a musician who is now writing commercial jingles with his wife; they have lost a child to SIDS and their marriage is fraying under the strain.
The film was, in fact, a reunion of four members of the 1980/81 Footlights cast: Hugh, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Tony Slattery. This sparked some accusations of cronyism and elitism in the British press. In a Sunday Times article about the background to the film, Iain Johnstone quotes Stephen Fry: " 'It seems sensible to write about what you know...as opposed to a lot of people down a mine or car chases. I doubt if it mattered to Chekhov that he wrote about aristocrats living in each others' pockets. The film is really about friendship; you never make friends as enduring as the ones you make at university. It seems so weird in retrospect. We were never a golden generation. I was going to be a teacher and Hugh was going to join the Hong Kong police. But we were lucky. By writing and performing together, we were able to nourish each other.' "
Some comments from reviews:
David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor: "The best thing about Peter's Friends is its acting. The word 'ensemble' is overused by critics...but in this case it's fully warranted, since every member of the cast seems fully in sync with all the others...The performances are so imaginative that they cover up the rather calculated nature of the screenplay...There's so much energy and goodwill in the acting...Applause goes to all, individually and as a group."
Magill's Survey of Cinema: "Laurie, an outstanding farceur in British television's BLACKADDER and JEEVES AND WOOSTER, displays an unexpected dramatic flair. Roger's plea that a father can care as deeply about the death of a child as its mother is the emotional high point of the film."
Barbara Cramer, Films in Review: "The wonderful cast certainly gives it that old college try...The merger ends up more an antic Evening at the Improv...as seen filtered through the rarefied sensibilities of a hugely talented gaggle of BritWits."
Sight and Sound: "In Peter's Friends, the Wooster-and-Jeeves team of Fry and Laurie give excellent performances...."
Edwin Jahiel, Internet review: "The casting is both theatrically colorful and against type....Hugh Laurie, a nincompoop on TV as Bertie Wooster in 'Jeeves and Wooster', in 'Blackadder' or in 'A Bit of Fry & Laurie', is compellingly serious."
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