Brideshead Revisited

If you go with a group of friends to see Brideshead Revisited (because that's what all of the cool kids are doing this weekend), the one who is still awake at the end wins a free dinner from the rest of the group. He or she will need something to make it feel like a positive accomplishment.

Matthew Goode stars as Charles Ryder – a soldier and famous painter who looks back on his life when he runs into an old friend while on a ship traveling across the sea. As he takes a stroll down memory lane, we watch Ryder’s relationship with Sebastian (Ben Wishaw), Julia (Hayley Atwell) and their mother, Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson), play out against a backdrop of deceit, greed, dysfunction and desire.

Oh, it’s supposed to be so British with its restrained performances and stoic faces.

Oh, it’s supposed to be a scathing indictment of the rich and powerful and their strange, cold, evil ways.

Oh, it’s supposed to be a condemnation of religious piousness.

Oh, I wish I didn’t waste my time watching it in the first place.

Brideshead Revisited might be one of the most boring movies of 2008. Not a film designed to revolve around a plot, or action, or drama, or anything interest, Brideshead Revisited is supposed to be some sort of epic journey exposing everything the novel’s writer, Evelyn Waugh, hates. However, it’s hard to like anyone, and I don’t think we’re supposed to.

Director Julian Jarrold doesn’t help provide any focus to the rambling, pointless series of events in the movie, so don’t worry if you need to sneak out to the concession stand and get a refill of your Cherry Coke. You won’t miss a thing, and you’ll need the caffeine.

Brideshead Revisited is rated PG-13 for some sexual content.