Peter's Friends

So here's the set-up: take a group of old friends, each with a catacomb's worth of skeletons in his or her closet, get them together for a little stay in the country, and watch them fall apart--upon each other and--as individuals. It's better than it sounds, though the movie does sometimes veer too wildly between comedy and drama. But the dialogue is razor sharp, the soundtrack holds many great tunes, and a great cast (including Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh [who directed], Stephen Fry, Rita Rudner and Hugh Laurie) holds it all together with style and aplomb. The ending comes off as too abrupt, perhaps, but otherwise it works.