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CRUSH Send This Review to a Friend
With a female bonding theme, "Crush" delivers entertaining observations about friendship and jealous meddling, but it also is overly forgiving about an act so devastating that even the strength of relationships among bosom buddies should not be enough to gloss over what happens.
In this flick written and directed by John McKay, three women pals in England enjoy sitting around, gossiping and bemoaning their quests for Mr. Right. There is humor in their commiseration. Andie MacDowell plays Kate, an American who is the never-married headmistress of a private school. Anna Chancellor is Molly, a multiple divorcee who is a successful British doctor. The third, portrayed by Imelda Staunton, is Janine, a divorced police inspector with a grown son.
The bonds are shattered when Kate starts a torrid love affair with Jed, a handsome much younger bloke who was a former student of hers, and actor Kenny Doughty is indeed appealing and sexy. Molly becomes fiercely jealous, and when the banging away becomes more serious, Molly sees it her duty to try and stop the ensuing marriage by any means possible and enlists a more reluctant but compliant Janine to go along with a shameful conspiracy. Of course, it is clear that Molly is terribly threatened by Kate's possible happiness, which she views as betrayal of the closely knit friendship, and she is being thoroughly selfish and self-deceptive in thinking she's doing Kate a favor. As the saying goes, with a friend like this you don't need an enemy.
Without revealing more of the plot, it can be pointed out that the result is tragic, so much so that the mere idea of Kate letting bygones be bygones is offensive, female bonding notwithstanding. The busy story has much more going on, including the romantic pursuit of Kate by the local clergyman and various machinations. At this point there is a new urgency for Molly and Janine.
What keeps "Crush" amusing as a comedy a good deal of the time is the acting. MacDowell, Chancellor and Staunton all excel, as do Doughty and supporting cast members. McKay's screenplay provides some sharp dialogue and as director he adds charm with the location shooting that conveys a rural English background. But ultimately the plotting doesn't hold up as very believable in the manner in which matters are resolved. Much can be excused as light-hearted comedy, but a bad taste is left in view of what has happened but is not allowed to get in the way of good old gals loving each other no matter what. A feminist might argue that pictures about men have done similar things for years, but that doesn't make "Crush" less jarring. A Sony Pictures Classics release.
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