A charming, if predictable, comedy-romance.
When Gemma finds her fiancé Nathan dead one morning, her journey of grief eventually leads her to the idea that she will still go ahead with the wedding, invoking an old English law which allows for this to happen. Along the way she must battle her parents, her circle of friends, the Lord Chief Justice, and Nathan’s seemingly crazy sister.
And thus we have And Mrs, a fairly standard comedy-romance, with pathos, and a twist. This is the stuff the British have been renowned for producing, and clearly are continuing to do so.
London-based Australians Daniel Reisinger and Melissa Bubnic are director and writer respectively. This appears to be the first feature either of them have worked on, coming from backgrounds of theatre, TV, video, and shorts. And they have certainly pulled together a clever and charming little film, which is enjoyable to watch, but not going to set the world on fire.
Where this work wins is in the casting. The fabulous Aisling Bea is Gemma, who has some delightful scenes with Nathan, played by Colin Hanks. Billie Lourd contributes some colour in the character of Nathan’s sister Audrey. The ensemble makes use of some reliable veterans in Sinéad Cusack and Peter Egan as Gemma’s parents, and Harriet Walter as Lord Chief Justice.
And Mrs has some important things to say about grief and about love. It is romantic without being cloying, and has enough gentle humour to keep the energy up. It is full the standard comedy-romance tropes, and definitely falls into the category of comfort-viewing. With some edgier writing, and less predictable direction, it could have been much more. In the same vein as the work of Richard Curtis, although not as witty, this is still a charming piece of cinema, which should be popular with audiences.
And Mrs is currently showing as part of the Russell Hobbs British Film Festival until December 8th.
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