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Rating:  - Not Compared to the Book
I have to admit I have yet to read the book the movie was based on, so my review is based purely on entertainment value. This movie has actually been a favorite of my family's for years and I only recently got a copy for myself. The acting is wonderful, it's nice to hear REAL British accents, and the punchlines are carried out to perfection. I tend to think this is a movie that all kinds of movie buffs can enjoy; the setting is the English countryside in the 20's (appealing to history lovers), the costumes are divine, the characters eccentric, and the humor appeals to all kinds of comedy-lovers. It is an interesting look at human nature at it's best and worst.
Rating:  - Ahh, the country life
I like to find movies in which current "stars" were not yet household names. I enjoyed Kate Beckinsale in such recent films as 'Underworld' and 'Van Helsing' and this plot line of one of her earlier films, sounded humorously entertaining.
Kate plays an orphan, Flora Poste, who goes to live with your long lost cousins at Cold Comfort Farm. Flora likes organization and finds very interesting ways of making her cousins see their true paths in life (often leaving the farm to do so), while simplifying and keeping her life organized. She's a very charming control freak. The film has a true, understated British humor and charm with many great one-liners, but I can't say that I found the film to be "hysterically" funny, nor worth the repeat view. I strongly suggest Greenfingers (Clive Owens) and Saving Grace (Craig Ferguson and Brenda Blethyn) as alternatives in the category of "not yet a household name".
Rating:  - Quite amusing.
Cold Comfort Farm (John Schlesinger, 1995)
The great John Schlesinger, director of such fantastic films as Marathon Man, The Believers, and Midnight Cowboy, would not seem to be one's go-to guy for a light comedy. In fact, I can't think of a comedy the guy's done, other than this, since Billy Liar back in the sixties. But did he pull it off? You bet he did.
Flora Poste (Kate Beckinsale, before she became a household name) has recently been orphaned. With dreams of being a writer, she decides, with the aid of her friend Mary (Joanna Lumley of Absolutely Fabulous) to find some relatives to stay with who will both put her up and give her ample material for the Great English Novel she plans to write. After a succession of increasingly odd letters from the darker, cobwebbed branches of the family tree, she gets one from her cousin Judith at Cold Comfort Farm, and decides it seems like just the place. Once she gets there, she meets the family: proselytizing patriarch Amos (Ian McKellen), dolorous cousin Judith (Dame Eileen Atkins, recently in Ask the Dust), brothers Reuben (Layer Cake's Ivan Kaye) and Seth (Dark City's Rufus Sewell), farmhands Adam (Freddie Jones, recently of Ladies in Lavender), Urk (character actor Jeremy Peters), and Rennet (Sophie Revell, in her only screen role), and Adam's gorgeous daughter Elfene (Kafka's Anna Miles, in her last screen role to date), all presided over by the house's mysterious matriarch, Aunt Ada (Sheila Burrell of Devices and Desires), who hasn't left her room in twenty years. In addition to having to deal with an entire family of neurotics, she's also being pursued by the eccentric writer Myberg (Stephen Fry), London socialite Charles (Tomrorow Never Dies' Christopher Bowen), and a Hollywood film producer (character actor Trevor Baxter). Enough material for an entire series of novels, but Flora finds that she has a touch for sorting out tangled lives instead.
It's a lovely little film, picturesque and neat, which is the main criticism of it by those familiar with the novel and the previous adaptation (also filmed for British television back in 1968). Schlesinger did, at least, get his actors dirty to portray farmhands, an appreciated touch in a world where James Bond never wrinkles his suit. Still, the chaos into which Flora Poste walks never seems to get all that chaotic. (Myberg, whom she constantly refers to as "Mybug," is the notable exception; Fry does a fine, fine job.) The movie could dual-class as a pastoral at times. One almost expects James Herriot to stop by and check for sick animals. Still, this does nothing to lessen the amusement factor, nor the inevitable feel-good endings to all the many tangled stories to be found here.
Amusing rather than gut-wrenchingly funny, but still lots of fun. Worth your time. ***
Rating: - FEEL GOOD MOVIES - REVIEW NR. 1
AFTER 81 YEARS, I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE UP ON THE GREAT DRAMATIC MOVIES THAT PRESENT THE WORLD IN ALL ITS MASSIVE TURMOIL. I GET ALL THAT FROM NEWSPAPERS, PERIODICALS, RADIO, TELEVISIOPN AND NOW, EVEN THE INERNET. I WANT TO WATCH MOVIES THAT I CALL "FEEL GOOD" MOVIES. THESE MOVIES CEMNTER ON A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE WITH A FEW INSIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS AND THEN, OVER THE COURSE OF AN HOUR OR SO, WORKOUT THE KINKS OF THIER LIVES AND LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THESE MOVIES CAN BE FULL OF PATHOS OR BATHOS OR EVEN SLAP STICK COMDEDY, BUT THEY NEVER PRESENT YOU WITH ANY PROBLEM GREATER THAN HOW TO GET YOUR MOTHER-IN-LAW TO BABYSIT THE KIDS BUT NOT MOVE IN WITH YOU...UNLESS YOU WANT HER TO. COLD COMFORT FARM MEETS MY CRITERIA TO BE CLASSIFID AS A "FEEL GOOD" MOVIE.
Rating: - Comic Classic Brought Flawlessly to the Screen
Cold Comfort Farm is a hilarious film that is remarkably faithful to the plot (one character does ends up with a different mate than in the book but it actually makes more sense) characters and spirit of the novel. The film is perfectly cast. Kate Beckinsale is especially good as our heroine, Flora Poste, who is unflappable and efficient at tidying up the many messes at Cold Comfort. Ian McKellen is also unforgettable and hysterically funny as Amos, the fire and brimstone preacher/farmer. All the other actors fulfill their roles well and without a hint of the self-consciousness too often seen in film satires. The British accents are sometimes a bit difficult for Americans to understand but fortunately the DVD comes with close captioning so the viewer doesn't miss a word of the clever script. The special features are almost nonexistant except for the trailer and a couple of "recommendations" but who cares when the film is so special and enjoyable?
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