Tim Kidner I quite enjoy re-playing Mike Leigh's older films, this time reviewing them and admittedly, Career Girls was far from being my (or, it seems, most other people's) first choice.I'd recorded mine from Film4's broadcast, just before the release of his latest 'Another Year' the advantage being Mr Leigh introduced it himself and said that it was often overlooked and he wasn't quite sure why. I had seen it myself on a couple of occasions before, most probably on the same channel and always quite liked it. It's not my favourite but always found it better once fully immersed.Is that because I'm a bloke, who never went to Uni and never had to flat-share, but there again, the 80s and 90s were formative years for me too.Anyway, as is usual with almost Leigh films, the opening few minutes always seem to have annoying characters that we really rather not share any time with, doing their best (worst?) to put us off. However, once we get used to them and their strange, odd ways, they become part of our screen lives and as if they were people we actually know, we put up with their annoying aspects and revel in their good, Leigh's folk are very human, almost TOO much so.So, Leigh's purpose was to show how passages of time, circumstance and education, plus friendship can follow in both predictive and unpredicted ways with the reunion of two Uni classmates ten years later, with frequent, but obvious, flashbacks to the student years, we can see how people can change. Side by side, the contrasts are very marked, almost too much so, but as we usually witness our friends forming slowly, year by year, who's to say that Leigh is not right?There's a smaller pool of main characters than with the better Leighs, and as with say, the later but even less good Happy Go Lucky, there is less respite from the obnoxious and smaller variety in which to spice up the story.Oddly, considering it's the female lead characters that Leigh is championing it's the two male leads that we see regularly on TV and cinema screen these days - Mark Benton as the twitchy, overweight Goth who gets to know them in student digs but always finds solace and comfort in food instead of confronting fears, including women; these two women. And Andy Serkis, who Leigh says he made as an opposite to Benton's sweet nature as possible and in Serkis, we have a 'disgusting pig' as Leigh refers to him. Both chauvinist and arrogant he could be seen as the ultimate product of the Thatcherite Yuppie years and again, typically Leigh, he doesn't portray this subtly and quite rightly, we want to leave his company as quickly as possible but perhaps more importantly, want our 'girls' to, as well. There are lots of comedic takes on Serkis' lifestyle 'choices' and this does lighten the emotional load.The two female leads, Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman though do not seem to be gracing our screens at all right now, though Cartlidge did feature in Leigh's Topsy Turvy (1999) and previously in the excellent Naked(Leigh's best film, probably) from 1993. Steadman seemed to have been in TV dramas about then but - all according to IMDb - nothing since 2003.Maybe Mike Leigh has made too much out of political and economic markers to make us really care for any of the people here. Yes, they're engaging with their character traits and whilst we sort of feel a part of their world, albeit briefly, we don't necessarily want to be. However, there are some nice down to earth and more reflective moments, they are just a bit too far between to be make the film totally enjoyable.

Erwino Ouwerkerk Never thought that there could be a Mike Leigh movie that I wouldn't like. But this is one. The thing with Leigh's movies is that the stories are for the biggest part just ordinary people in their ordinary everyday life. And it are the characters that almost make you feel like you are watching a documentary, that make them so special. This story is again a story with nothing much interesting. Two roommates that meet again. Half of the time in real life and the other in sort of flashbacks. But this time the acting is so very much overdone, that it is almost like I'm watching an American comedy, with just the fake laughs in the background missing. Apart from an occasional laugh, I watched it till the end as if I was sitting in the chair at my dentist. Just for old time Mike Leigh's sake.

peterlefaucheur The combination of Alison Steadman and the stunningly talented Katrin Cartlidge make for a very quirky but really down-to-earth film.Although it was slated heavily for being OTT i think the characters are so true to life. We all must've known certain folk back in the early 80s who were of a similar character to those portrayed here.Katrin Cartlidges' death is a HUGE loss. She was one of the most talented and beautiful actresses who fitted in so well when directed by Mike Leigh.If you fond of films containing humorous British nostalgia and are fed up with the false, glitzy, Hollywood -influenced exterior that seems to be the winning trade mark these days, then this is the sort of film for you.Let's see more films about REAL life, warts and all, (like this one) for a change!

reel_emotion ***Spoiler may be here***I enjoy Mike Leigh's movies. Sometimes you get the feeling you are watching an awkward moment on somebody's home movies.Career Girls follows the six year reunion of college roommates, and unlikely friends, Hannah and Annie. We see Hannah and Annie now refined in their older age, but, as they flashback to their flat mate days, we see two spastic girls.Annie visits Hannah in London, and, in the first flashback, Annie recalls meeting Hannah as she moves into the flat. Hannah is mean and outspoken, and you wonder why Annie would ever want to be her friend--especially, as Hannah makes fun of Annie's eczema on her face. But they soon become friends--sometimes it is hard to watch these women. Annie jerks her head to the side and shakes with shyness while Hannah talks on the top of her lungs and flings her arms about. And, if you watch carefully, both revert to these nervous behaviors as adults in certain scenes.I was waiting for the big revelation, but it was nothing, really. Hannah and Annie run into ex roommates and boyfriends during their weekend reunion--and one ex doesn't even remember them. Everybody their age has married and moved on. But these girls are outcasts. And in the end, you can see life has been unfair to them, except in their careers.This type of movie is not everybody's cup of tea, and there is some thick English accents here. But if you want to know how to turn Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights into some sort of magic eight ball, this is the movie for you!