Quartet

Well made and pleasant to watch, but at no point distinguishes itself and often things become just too ploddingly gentle. It's an interesting, curious film for Hoffmans directorial debt, being very low key and safe, but also having enough about it to suggest that should Hoffman go on to direct further he may do something really worthy of note. Some bonus marks for Hoffman making a movie with an aging British cast and then not casting Julie fucking Walters and Bill fucking Nighy.

Starts energetic and fun, added to the obvious plot it all seemed like the muppet show re-cast with old people; Connolly for Fozzy, Smith for Piggy, Courtenay for Kermit etc. As the plot unfolded -entirely predictably- it became a little dreary.

This film was kind of like eating an entire bag of marshmallows. The first few taste great, but after a while, you realize that they all taste the same, and you filled yourself up on a whole lot of puffed air and sugar. I actually found myself more intrigued by the supporting cast, who are highlighted in the end credits.

They should have kept a wee bit of the cast singing as it feels like a cheat at the end. Has some great moments but a bit tv movie ish. Billy gets some great laughs, Sheridan Smith surprised me and Andrew Sachs was vastly under used.

Just kind of sits there, wallowing in its languid, lazy, warm surroundings. Forgettable, Billy Connolly aside, but it's pretty and will please the target demographic.

8?(T ^ T)??????????????

Hoffman should stick to acting. This is one of those almost-unbearable 'old people are young at heart if only given a chance' films. It should be a distinct genre, if only to make it easer for me to avoid such films.

Probably better the older you are, and, well, I'm old, so, yeah. Nothing exciting happens in the movie, it's just a gentle ride, which is fine. Maggie Smith plays her usual character, though she didn't really get to use any sharp, witty lines like she does in many movies and shows. Points taken off for the extremely anti-climatic ending.

I can't fault the performances, so is it the director's fault?

Well, at least it didnt descend into farce, where most stories in old peoples homes ends up... that said, it DID descend into (more realistically) complete boredom. I dont think I have ever seen a film with such a stunning anticlimax. I can only think Julie walters, Judy Dench and Michael Caine were otherwise engaged, or the whole gamut of national "treasures" would have been present, albeit criminally underused. Some early amusement from Connolly, but very little else to comment on.

Quartet is a mixed bag; part 'High School Musical' drama with retired opera singers, part feel-good comedy. Courtenay was great in the 1st half but almost disappears in the 2nd half; my favourite scene being his lecture about opera to the bussed in youth. Smith was good, but a bit of a downer despite a few quippy lines. The dialogue is well written, but the film fails to hold attention in the middle before being wrapped up with clichés.

Oddly, the tone kept reminding me of "On Golden Pond"--and that is not a good thing. There are small pleasures here and there, but not enough to sustain the movie. This might have been more enjoyable if I didn't work in opera--none of the leads (with the possible exception of Billy Connolly) are believable for one moment as great opera singers, and the writing is crap--the lines they're given are not things singers would EVER say. It's all tasteful and shit--in the worst possible sense.

It's a pleasant enough ode to old age and opera but it's also too incredibly safe and quick to resort to easy sentimentality.

Excellent.

I don't know if my 87-year-old grandmother watches movies (or even television) anymore, but if she does, holy crap would she be all over this. I fell asleep for about 45 minutes, but I concede that there's wholeheartedly an audience for this well-mounted but crusty material, and I'm wholeheartedly not it. Yet.

I will not let a movie tease me the whole time and not fully deliver. It is not a horrible rating, because Billy Connolly was fantastic in it.

A quite bland look at aging musicians getting ready to put on a show at their retirement home for the musically inclined. The cast is impressive but the performances were forgettable. Billy Connolly was the most interesting character any only because he was a dirty old man with some damage to his frontal lobe so he couldn't censor himself which leads to some good comedy. If it wasn't for Connolly I would have been bored out of my mind. This movie doesn't deserve an encore.

1133: what a nice job!

Im a musician and even i wasnt impressed; a feelgood movie that misses all the necessary climax moments

Connolly and Courtenay are great, everything else is fairly decent at best and pretty bland at worst. A nice film that isn't made for me so I'm not going to be too harsh on it. I can't even stand operatic singing.

This movie's pleasant enough to take in. Some enjoyable moments, but nothing to sink your teeth into. Also, the whole premise makes no sense: a really fancy retirement home is going to close, but it's somehow saved by the proceeds from a concert that like 30 people attend?

A better and truer story: "Young@Heart"

"For a movie that aims to make four artists' last spotlit hurrah a revel-worthy moment, Quartet shouldn't urge the viewer to welcome the closing of the curtain." - R. Kurt Osenlund