Reviewer's Rating 3 out of 5
The West Wittering Affair (2006)
15

Despite having one of the least prepossessing titles in recent film history, and a budget that would shame a piggy-bank, The West Wittering Affair emerges as a perfectly competent Brit-com with a rough-and-ready charm that helps offset its obvious technical deficiencies. Shot on what appears to be a camcorder, its portrait of four London thirtysomethings swapping partners and fluids with gay abandon hardly revolutionises the genre, but those with the patience to support indigenous grass-roots filmmaking will find much to admire.

"In the wrong hands, the vagina can be a very dangerous weapon!" intones pretentious shrink Greg (David Annen) to his new patient Jamie (Danny Scheinmann). Since he's just spent a wild night of passion with Greg's neglected wife Natasha (Rebecca Cardinale) and her sex-starved pal Kath (Sarah Sutcliffe) in a West Sussex farmhouse, Jamie probably knows this already. Having kicked off the proceedings in typical sex-farce mode, though, Scheinmann's director/brother David promptly steers the story into more dramatic territory, catching up with his protagonists after a two-year hiatus to see the fall-out from that saucy liaison.

"SPRINGS A FEW SURPRISES LATER ON"

If the abrupt shift in tone doesn't really come off, that's not to fault the conviction of the unknown leads, or a script that holds enough information back in the early stages to spring a few surprises later on. As for the Scheinmanns: well, it's hard to criticise a sibling duo with the brazen audacity to name-check Mike Leigh, John Cassavetes, Richard Curtis and Woody Allen within a single paragraph of their production notes.

End Credits

Director: David Scheinmann

Writer: Danny Scheinmann, Sarah Sutcliffe

Stars: Danny Scheinmann, Rebecca Cardinale, David Annen, Sarah Sutcliffe, Sarah Coomes, Malcolm Ridley

Genre: Comedy

Length: 90 minutes

Cinema: 15 December 2006

Country: UK

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