Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel And Laurence [DVD]

Product Information

A COMEDY IN WHICH THREE MEN FALL IN LOVE, UNAWARE THAT EACH OF THE OTHERS ARE BOTH IN LOVE THE SAME WOMAN.

With the first half given over to Liz's sanitised tale, the latter part of the film takes on a darker note as Martin tells the cops his side of the story. And here's where the film loses momentum and veers dangerously towards standard thriller cliché territory, throwing in some horribly graphic moments (uncontrollable vomit, maggot-ridden toilets) and spiralling towards an all-too-obvious outcome. I really don't think it's as bad as the critics on rotten tomatoes say. The script is, after all written by Peter Morgan, who wrote the scripts for The Queen and most recently Frost Nixon. A lot of the dialogue is centred on rather corny stuff like destiny and whether things happen for a reason, but because of the performances of Tom Hollander, Joseph Fiennes and Rufus Sewell, you do end up ignoring that completely. London. 'I want to talk about love. I want to talk about friendship and deceit. I want to talk about the fact that up until three days ago, there were four people whose lives were OK. Not perfect but OK. But that was three days ago, and in three days it's all fallen apart....'The Very Thought of You (Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence) (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster . Retrieved 29 December 2013. Bored with her job at a Minneapolis car rental agency, restless Martha (Monica Potter) impetuously takes a trip to London. On her adventure Martha encounters three Englishmen who -- coincidentally -- all know each other. There's music bigwig Daniel (Tom Hollander), card champion Laurence (Joseph Fiennes) and aspiring actor Frank (Rufus Sewell). All three men end up pursuing Martha, oblivious of each other -- which, of course, results in an elaborate romantic entanglement. From a woman's point of view, it's just a perfect film. Mainly because you have three relatively good looking lead guys who is the centre for the first part of the film. You try to guess which one of the three childhood friends she would fall far and perhaps who would you. For a man I think you can also relate mainly with the three actors. Plus, for both sexes, it centres on something which we all think about and wonder what we would do if we were in that position.

The film was shot on location in Minneapolis, at Stansted Airport in Essex, and at various London locations, including Battersea Park, Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, and South Bank. The movie explores the themes of friendship, love, and career aspirations. It raises thought-provoking questions about the choices we make in life and the paths we take. The movie also has some funny moments that bring comic relief to the otherwise emotional storyline.

#= data.dataItem.date #

With a stylish director at the helm, and the right mix of thesps, the film could have realized the sophisticated potential in Morgan’s script. However, though “Martha” still offers several pleasures, and as a whole it’s an easy enough sit at under 90 minutes, pic time and again drops the ball just when things start fizzing. Hamm – whose first feature, the Miramax period drama “Talk of Angels,” shot in 1995, is finally set to see the light of day this summer in the U.S. – seems incapable of establishing either a visual style for the movie or a light enough tempo to make either the comedy or the romance work except in fits and starts. This film is one of those rare romantic comedies where, as I said before, because you can identify with the characters and the character of Martha, you can really get into the film and it doesn't seem reminiscent of previous romantic comedies-where you might have got incredibly irritated. The film is very short. At 83 mins, we don't feel like the film has dragged on too much or irritated by the characters. I love the subtle humour from the three guys, which creates such brilliant people to watch on screen. Interestingly, this film never made it to US theatres but was shown everywhere else in the world. Having made his mark with Martha Meet Frank, Daniel And Laurence (1998), Hamm treads far murkier waters for his sophomore directorial effort, an adaptation of Guy Burt's novel After The Hole, which is about as far removed from fluffy rom-com territory as it's possible to get. The story takes an interesting turn when Martha finds herself falling for Frank, but at the same time, Daniel and Laurence also begin to have feelings for her. As the four friends reconnect, their lives become intertwined with one another, leading to a roller coaster ride of emotions and complications.

Frank, Daniel and Laurence have been friends since they can remember. Frank, an out of work actor, overindulges himself and is in constant competition with the rich, charming and successful Daniel. Laurence is their fall guy, the man with a sympathetic ear and capacity to bring them together. But this time Daniel has gone too far. He has stolen Frank's date and once again failed to turn up to a meeting of the three men. Frank is furious and ready to maim. Laurence tries but fails to placate. Frank is right, Daniel is far away - in Minneapolis, heading for the airport.Monica Potter made her screen debut as Nicolas Cage's wife in Disney's Con Air. She also appears in Pre for Warner Brothers.