Quartet is the latest in a long line of films in which the audience is supposed to pity the old people while they do waking things. If you don't believe that this is a current trend you may need to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Parental Guidance, Stand Up Guys and the upcoming Terrence Stamp comedy Unfinished Song. This particular film is not half bad for the type of film it is but I hate the type of movie that it is so much that I can't come close to recommending it. It's an honest effort but it's also a tired one.
The film follows a former quartet singer named Jean (Maggie Smith) who enters a retirement home for retired musicians. There she catches up with her old quartet members (Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay and Pauline Collins.) They plan to put on one last fundraiser show much to Jean's chagrin.
The film is all too simultaneously syrupy and wacky in the way it approaches itself. The old guys are obsessed with sex while the old ladies are trying to get back to their glory days. It's the same formula done over and over and over again. There's nothing new here and although director Dustin Hoffman and screenwriter Ronald Harwood (who also wrote the play on which the film is based) do give the audience a few honest and even funny scenes---they do nothing to do anything original.
Perhaps I'm being a bit of a grouch. I did admit that Quartet succeeds in some aspects. Still---I think I'm justified in not recommending it. If you're going to make a movie with a premise that been done to death...do something....anything original. Unfortunately, Hoffman and Harwood fail in that aspect and therefore I have to chalk this up as a dull, uninteresting outing to the cinema.
(2 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for brief strong language and suggestive humor)
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