As a standalone movie, I'd imagine this feels like Hangover Part 10... I'm not sure they could have crammed in any more celebrity cameos into that run time so I'm quite surprised they managed to reheat a few old episode plotlines and jam them in too!

There are a couple of positives... The first of course is that we get to see a cast of characters that we know and (mostly) love come back to life for a while. The second is Hayley Joel Osment who is an absolute joy and dare-I-say-it underused!

The negatives - completely undoing much of the satisfaction at the end of the series only to tread old ground half as well. Sloan and E (did they dip the beautiful and elegant Emanuelle Chriqui in mahogany wood paint before each of her scenes?) was a sad rehash of a tired trope from series. Ari and Melissa - again, have we not been here many times before. Vince - still an absolute wanker so no change there but it would have been nice to see him redeemed more effectively from being such a shitty actor and character.

I thought some of the choices of direction were very weak - like the zooming in on Ari's face as he launches into one his brilliant tirades. The show didn't have it and the film didn't need it. Write a solid 6 episode arc and film it as a movie... They did everything but the solid bit.

Overall it is a must see as a fan of the show - and that's the only reason they made it, let's face it.

(I think it's sad that none of the stars have gone on to other things but it does make for a strange time-capsule/alternate-reality where Vincent Chase might just be a Hollywood star)


6/10