The real secret about being a writer is learning how to lie.

Tamara Drewe

(2010)

I'm not really sure why Stephen Frears wanted to make this, but I'm grateful that he cast Gemma Arterton as the titular character.

Her journalist returns to a Devonshire village populated by various larger-than-life characters, from a serial adulterer to an American academic with writer's block to a visiting rock drummer to a couple of teen groupies (they're reminiscent of characters from a Bill Forsyth movie).

It's all very episodic - Drewe is most certainly on the superficial side - and fairly light material despite the fall-outs from bed-hopping. Until a rather severe third-act development, that is. Arterton carries the film effortlessly, and looks fantastic in tight shorts.

***

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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