I bought this film because I had seen an endless barrage of over-hyped trailers for it on PBS and I thought, 'hey, cool! another great period piece from back home...' but boy was I wrong. For starters, it plays like a very shaky soap opera, as episodic as they get and at times borderlines on silly. The premise is as follows: Stunning virginal looker (played by Sienna Guillory who seems to be making a habit of portraying characters like this) has never met a man she couldn't turn down. She is very set in her ways and is saving herself for marriage. Enter good-looking heart-breaker (played by Rupert Graves on some sort of high) whose never meet a woman he didn't eventually bed, and you've pretty much established your storyline. The rest of the film is a game of cat and mouse as Patrick (Graves) eventually spots Jenny Bunn (Guillory) and makes her his conquest, and you wouldn't believe the kinds of lows he reaches all in the name of maintaining his bad boy image and record. Jenny Bunn makes you proud up until the point when she starts to fall for Patrick. The only true showstopper and scene stealer here is the character of the headmaster's daughter Sheila Torkingham (played by the ever delightful Amelia Warner) who doesn't mind having an affair with Patrick if only it would guarantee that such a good looking older man would give her the time of day. Her character is very realistic.
Review of Take a Girl Like You
