COMEDY SKETCH & STAND-UP - THE WOMEN: PETER'S FRIENDS, THIS IS MY LIFE, WISECRACKS
One of the long-enduring stereotypes about comedy, particularly stand-up or sketch comedy, is that it's a man's field. Though "Saturday Night Live" was revolutionary in many ways, it adhered to this stereotype, with the women on the show often relegated to filler characters, unless, like Gilda Radner, they had a lot of characters, or, like Jane Curtin, they were able to assert themselves. The reality, of course, is there has been a long tradition of women who have been funny in both stand-up and sketch comedy, whether they bring a point of view, or just a particular talent. And some have even explored this behind the camera as well as in front of it. Stand-up comic Rita Rudner co-wrote (with her husband Martin Bergmann) and co-starred in Kenneth Branagh's PETER'S FRIENDS, Julie Kavner, of "The Tracey Ullman Show," starred in Nora Ephron's THIS IS MY LIFE, and Gail Singer directed WISECRACKS. Of the three, however, only Singer's movie rises above its flaws.
Rudner has been a stand-up specializing in humor that's slightly skewed but never dirty (she talked about getting a facelift until she saw the plastic surgeon had Picassos in his office, and she said, "My nose may not be perfect, but at least it's centered"). And although the script she had written originally dealt with American characters, since she had a series that aired in England and featured British performers (among them French & Saunders), it seems she would able to seamlessly transfer the setting, the movie, a dramedy in the style of THE BIG CHILL, is a hit-and-miss affair.
Peter (Stephen Fry) was once part of a theatrical troupe at Cambridge (we see them performing at the beginning). Now, 10 years later, he invites the rest of the troupe to his mansion for New Year's, because he has something important to tell them. Each of them has gone off to other things, with various degrees of success and failure. Andrew (Branagh) is successful at writing for a sitcom he hates, which stars his successful and neurotic wife (Rudner), and their marriage is on the rocks. Roger (Hugh Laurie) and Mary (Imelda Staunton) are successful writers for an ad agency, but their marriage is also in trouble - she lost a baby recently, and so has become obsessive in looking after the other one (she calls home every 10 minutes), and Roger feels she blames him. Maggie (Emma Thompson) works for a publishing company, but is still single and living like a wallflower, and her biological clock is ticking. Finally, Sarah (Alphonsia Emmanuel), the only one who's still in the theater, is seeing Brian (Tony Slattery), a married man. And Peter, who's worried about whether to sell the house, has a secret to tell them all.
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