This film was a bust at the box office, and it's hard to see how this one would ever play for an American audience. Would a British audience like it better? Perhaps, but why would a film ever want to limit itself to a one-country market? For that matter, even if the British might like it better, it would still be a small segment of British filmgoers who might want to see it, I think.
Although the title is a Peter Pan quote, the quote is not an obvious one. The theater troupe performs Peter Pan on stage, but the play itself remains pretty hidden in the background. Meredith (Hugh Grant) is the director and P.L. O'Hara (Alan Rickman) plays Captain Hook. The troupe itself is simply there. I don't really connect with any of the characters. The main character is Stella (Georgina Cates), and from the start, the first thought about her that enters my mind is: What's wrong with her?
I have that thought because the film opens up with the World War II Blitz of London, and she's just a small girl standing on the street acting like she's watching fireworks. Maybe she's so young that she doesn't understand what war is, or that a bomb could fall on her head at any moment. She also doesn't have parents, and what happened to them will eventually be explained. She grows up raised by an uncle, and he's the one that helped get her into theater so that she would have a future beyond working a counter at a drug store.
Some reviewers have noted that the film is a little obtuse and hard to follow. Maybe it is, or maybe it isn't. I think if you're simply patient, you figure out what's going on, more or less. But to simplify matters, it doesn't hurt to read the Wikipedia summary. Of course why should you have to read a summary just to watch a film?
For most of the film, Stella is about 16. Meredith doesn't like anyone, and no one really likes him, but he lets Stella stay on even though she doesn't have any experience in theater. Perhaps he's being nice, or perhaps she's basically a gopher intern who works for free. Meredith never really treats Stella badly, although he seems to treat others -- maybe most -- in the troupe badly. He's also gay, something Stella never seems to understand until it's finally pointed out to her. She seems to have had a crush on him, even though he must be in his mid-30s, but this won't be the only older man she ends up liking.
The other is P.L., who I guess must be in his mid-40s. For some reason, we see younger boys try to use Stella -- at least they make her touch their dinguses. Is this why she finds young boys such a turnoff? Is she really into older men, or what's the deal with her making the moves on P.L. before he can make the moves on her? Maybe she just know what's going to happen, and she'd rather feel like the one in charge?
In any event, the relationship is highly age-inappropriate, but even in the middle of having sex, Stella flat-out tells P.L. she loves someone else and doesn't love him in the slightest. P.L. doesn't seem hurt by her announcement.
Anyway, something happens later that will cause P.L. to quit seeing Stella. In fact, it's one of those things you never see coming. He sure didn't. But why it's a shocker, I'm not sure what we're to make of it. Meredith ends up having to fill-in as Captain Hook for the missing P.L. Stella never finds out what P.L. found out. So how do we process the ending, and what actually happens to Stella moving forward?
Those who don't like the film say that it feels "episodic" and confusing. I would agree, but I also don't think the ending works because it just doesn't "solve" anything. We see Stella "calling her mother" and explaining to her that she had been seduced by an older man, but it wasn't her fault. But her mom is not on the other end of the line and never has been. This isn't a spoiler, because her uncle has already told P.L. that Stella has no contact with her mom because none of them know where she is.
With that ending, all we really get, as far as I can tell, is that Stella will continue to work at the theater, and she will continue to call her "mom" to let her know what's going on in her life. She will likely not "make it" as an actress, and perhaps she will end up simply working at a drug store after all. Maybe she will also continue to be used by men?
One other thing reviewers mention was that not only are none of the characters made likeable for the audience in this film, but the director doesn't seem to like any of them, either. Maybe he doesn't even like the plot or the film itself. Ebert noted that the film did have "grit" and atmosphere, and I think there's some truth in that, but the overall story is hard to connect to and not one that I would probably want to watch a second time.
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
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