Siskel and Ebert review 'Peter's Friends'
http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html ?sec=6&subsec=peter'sl+friends
shareI agree with Ebert on this one. I approached it with lowered expectations, and after a slow start, the film became really fun and entertaining (beginning with the dinner table scene to be more specific).
Siskel may be correct in that some of the characters may be a bit absurd...but their believablity increases as you get to know them better.
While it is unlikely that your average group of people would ever be this colorful and neurotic, this is a ficticious film meant to entertain. And that is just what it is - well put together and entertaining.
"While it is unlikely that your average group of people would ever be this colorful and neurotic..."
Keep in mind that they were in college together as part of a "performing" group. If you've ever been part of a performing group of people you will find any number of "colorful and neurotic" people in real life who become friends and lovers, and hang out with each other for weeks, months, years, or a lifetime!
I've been singing with a choral group since 1979 and we still perform 3 concerts a year. We've toured Europe 4 times together and have spent 2-week Summer vacations together in order to sing one concert. And we are most certainly a bunch of "colorful and neurotic" people who are "like family" by this time.
I've also been associated with a local drama group since the early 1980s. New people come and go, but there is still a core of us old-timers. People who seek opportunities to perform tend to be a bit absurd and manage to find each other. That's why I can relate to this movie as being more true-to-life than others might perceive it.