Cold Comfort Farm (1995)

Very disappointing...

The Age of Commercialism

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Watching this goofy and silly BBC movie for television, I didn't quite hang on the obvious question the film poses at the start. What in the world did Ada (Aunt Ada) Doom see in the woodshed that was so nasty? I think the writers and filmmakers wanted that of the viewers, but the hook doesn't quite grab. That's mostly due to the obvious shift then to lighthearted screenplay immediately after. They no doubt needed that quick switch to convince viewers that this was indeed a comedy. Well, all the psychological or market jockeying aside, this is an entertaining movie that isn't nearly as funny as it could have been. For instance, the members of Flora Poste's (Kate Beckinsale) family on the farm aren't as goofy as her London friends. Especially Mrs. Mary Smiling, played by Joanna Lumley. Her eccentric hobby of collecting women's bras and displaying them on torso mannequins is more far out than anyone on the farm. The thing about Flora's relatives on the farm is that they're all quite dirty. The place is run down and no one seems to care about cleaning it up or cleaning themselves. So, it's not that much a task for Flora to gradually get them to clean up their act. She does this in some clever ways with each one – and this is the part of the screenplay is very good. Of course, the viewers get onto what she is doing quickly, but the fun is in watching what she will do next. There are some holes in the plot where things are left out between scenes that would have been good to see. And, had the writers made the farm people actually a little more eccentric, there would have been much more comedy. Instead, the plot revolves closely around Flora, who provides very little of the comedy. Aside from that, I think one of the funniest things about this movie is the names of some of the people, and places. Besides Aunt Ada Doom, Mrs. Mary Smiling is always… you might guess – smiling. Freddie Jones plays Adam Lambsbreath. Anyone who's ever been around sheep can get an idea of that one. Stephen Fry is Meyerbug, which lists in the credits as Flora calls him, Mybug. And, he does bug her. Of course, there's the family name that has always had someone on Cold Comfort Farm, Starkadder. There are some others – Mrs. Beetle, Mr. Neck, etc. Then, there's Beershorn Halt, Ticklepenny Corner, Nettle Flitch, the Church of the Quiverin' Brethren, and Cold Comfort Farm. It's a lightly funny film with some fair performances from Ian McKellen as Amos Starkadder, Rufus Sewell as Seth, Fry as Mybug, Sheila Burrell as Aunt Ada, Eileen Atkins as Judith Starkadder, and Joanna Lumley as Mary Smiling. In a late scene Aunt Ada repeats aloud to everyone for the umpteenth time, "I saw something nasty in the woodshed." Mr. Neck, who is visiting, says, "Sure you did. But did it see you, Baby."Here are some favorite lines from the film. For more, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the film. Flora Poste: I'm willing to bet there are also cousins called "Seth" and "Reuben." Mary Smiling: Why" Flora: Highly sexed young men living on a farm are always called Seth or Reuben. Amos Starkadder, "Seth, you drain the well. There's a neighbor missing."Amos Starkadder, "They'll all burn in hell, and someone's gotta tell 'em so.Flora Poste, "Then, you have no idea what you're going to say before you get there?" Amos Starkadder, "Aye. I always know it'll be something about burnin'."Earl P. Neck, taking Seth Starkadder to Hollywood, sees Judith and says to Flora, "I'd take here too, but she's too gloomy."

Loved this movie. Loved the book and was totally impressed with how they adapted it, nothing was lost.The story is simple: Set in England, sometime around the 1930's - a young woman, Flora Post, is left with a very small annuity after her parents die. She needs to either find a suitable job, or find some suitable relative with whom to live.After she sends out enquiries to a number of relatives and receives responses, she decides to go to her country cousins, the Starkadders.Flora has no qualms about setting off on this adventure, but her cousins have NO idea of what they have let themselves in for.We join her on her adventures and are completely sucked into the story and the surroundings. Nothing defies her, nothing worries her, she sails through the lives and routines, gloom and joy of her cousins and their associates with the greatest of ease and comfort.Flora loves to organize things, and she relentlessly creates order from chaos at Starkadder Farm, in a charming way.There is so much to love about the story itself which is lightheartedly and gently making fund of a certain time in British history.The acting is amazing, the casting is incredible. The pacing of the movie is great - not for one minute does one feel bored or restless. We have seen it 5 or 6 times and it retains its charm.Highly recommended for fans of the out of the ordinary, or British humour.

First part of a twin bill I watched featuring Ian McKellen (X-Men, Lord of the Rings). He played a fire and brimstone country preacher that reminded me of the 17th Century Puritan Minister Cotton Mather.The movie starred Eileen Atkins (Cold Mountain) and Kate Beckinsale (Underworld). Beckansale played a girl in 1930s England who went to the rural farm property after the death of her father. In a period comedy she proceeds to change the lives of her extended family in a way that gives each of them what they want and free them from their bondage to the seemingly crazy matriarch (Sheila Burrell).It was a very cute piece and to see Ian McKellen preach his sermon was an experience not to be forgotten.

If ever a movie with a generally realistic setting called for suspension of disbelief, Cold Comfort Farm is it. The viewer is asked to believe that a well brought up but penniless orphan (Kate Beckinsale) comes to live with relatives who mostly despise her and hate one another and who want desperately to leave this wretched, filthy, gloomy farm but cannot do so because of a tyrannical recluse of a family matriarch who is holed up in her room, consuming enormous quantities of food -- and in the course of an hour and a half, the plucky young orphan has transformed the lives of everyone on the farm, including the matriarch and the gloomy, mad cousin who invited her to come live with them because of a unexplained but terrible wrong done to the young woman's father by this family. Kate Beckinsale is outstanding in the role of the orphaned young woman and Ian McKellen effortlessly steals the picture from everyone but Beckinsale in his role as a fire-and-brimstone preacher whom Kate's character persuades to leave the farm to his eldest son and pursue his mission of preaching his terrifying gospel to the world. The picture has its moments, mostly because of Beckinsale and McKellen, though there is also a wonderful bit involving a Hollywood producer friend of the young orphan's who is persuaded to visit the farm and make a movie star of the lecherous younger brother. Mostly, however,Cold Comfort Farm is thin gruel and not nearly as amusing as the people who made it seem to think it is.