Sunday, 21 November 2021

VOD: Falling For Figaro (dir: Ben Lewin, 2021)

"I've always wanted to be an opera singer."
"Wha...? What, you mean, like, in the shower?"

Falling For Figaro is a timid British middle-class rom-com that is typical easy-Sunday-afternoon-viewing fare.  Following the Richard Curtis/fish-out-of-water template, a successful but dissatisfied City fund manager improbably ups sticks to stereotypical rural Scotland in order to train to become and opera singer with a reclusive former diva, alongside developing a romantic interest in her main rival.  It is full of reliable British character actors following predictable story arcs, with Joanna Lumley spitting out her waspish put-downs with gleeful efficiency, Danielle Macdonald proving reasonably charming if often underpowered in the lead role, Gary Lewis giving good value as the dour pub landlord, and the ever-reliable Hugh Skinner giving one of his best, nicely-judged performances here as the failing opera competition rival and love interest.  The film is pleasant and well-executed, but it is so tame that it leaves no real impression, unless you are the type of viewer who finds a creaky old plumbing system to be the height of hilarity.

 

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