Page 1 of Did anyone see The Girl in the Cafe?

I know Richard Curtis is known to turn anything he touches into sentimental mush, but I really think he struck a sort of balence. Africa is an important issue, and hopefully this brought the issue to the attention of a new audience, those who have become desensitized by the charity adverts and news. Though I think it is probably unlikely that it did reach out to anyone new...I hope it did...

What are your views? Did you think it was well put together or totally hate it?


P.S. I think this may belong in the Films Forum?

This item was edited on Saturday, 25th June 2005, 23:17

I quite liked the romance aspect, especially the lovely Kelly Macdonald (it`s absolutely impossible to dislike her), but the political propaganda was handled with about as much subtlety as a punch in the face - a huge shame because the overall message is an important one, and one which everybody should get behind.

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but the political propaganda was handled with about as much subtlety as a punch in the face

Yeah would 100% agree with you, overall a good piece but as he is a co-organiser of Live 8 the political agenda was there to see from the outset.

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a huge shame because the overall message is an important one, and one which everybody should get behind

I also thought the Chancellor (sp) bore a striking similarity to Gordan Brown and his goals (his goals set out earlier this year, not so sure about now). Hopefully he will be pushing hard for the corner of this worthy cause at Gleneagles.

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especially the lovely Kelly Macdonald (it`s absolutely impossible to dislike her)

Just to add I thought Bill Nighy was excellent as well, I thought the two of them played off each other very well, enough to give the classic `Curtis` romance its usual charm and emotion.

Hopefully more of these types of programs, not just about Africa but all the current topical issues globally, not just those that are `flavour of the month`, one that comes to mind as a good example of topical BBC drama is `Warriors` (1999)

PS. Anyone know if this will get a DVD release?

I have to say I thought it was faarrrrr ttooo slooooooowwww.

I stuck with it, but was very temped to go somewhere else.
A good idea, a great cast, although Bill Nighy had far to many silly walks as the shy civil servant.
How Kelly Macdonald fell for him was nicely done. With their age gap how it happened without looking contrived, was always going to be a difficult thing to do.
The ending was a bit of a let down and I think Richard Curtis`s not wanting to defuse his message by having them make up and be back together (even if he did leave the door open for them to get back together) was wrong, it would have worked much better for me if Gina had been confined to the bedroom the next day with a chaperon (maybe with the wife who had lost a child), where he could have still phoned her to turn on the tv, than have her sent home where the press would have descended like locus on her. I think it would have flowed much better at the end if he had done it that way. Instead it just looked like he was clearing the decks for the big message, and lost the viewer because of it.


Cracking toast, Gomit!

This item was edited on Sunday, 26th June 2005, 11:39

DVD release info HERE
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Name: Grey Raven
Secret Identity: mark anderson
Special Power: Flight
Transportation: Magnetic Jet
Weapon: Dimensional Grenade
Costume: Silk Cowl
Sidekick: Dirk Deadly
Nemesis: Arnold the Nasty
Tragic Flaw: Fear of clams
Favorite Food: Pie

The Cheapest Pre-Order I`ve seen is at Bensons World... :)

(If you remove the frame on the link, then it comes up @ £13.49)

This item was edited on Tuesday, 28th June 2005, 22:15