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United Kingdom · 2018
Rated R · 1h 25m
Director Simon Amstell
Starring Colin Morgan, Phénix Brossard, Joel Fry, Jessica Raine
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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In this tender, bittersweet comedy, a rising young filmmaker is plunged into emotional turmoil by a burgeoning romance and the pressures and uncertainty that come with the upcoming premiere of his second feature. The jokes are brutal and laugh-out-loud funny, and the film balances this with a heartfelt, character driven story.
The story is feather-light, but the pain, either felt or indirectly caused by Benjamin, can be harrowingly authentic. We want to simultaneously hug him for reassurance and physically restrain him to keep from the next nerve-induced verbal volcano.
It is an unusual mix of intense, angsty character-driven drama and laugh-out-loud jokes about the film industry. It’ll be best enjoyed by those who live in the milieu it depicts, along with fans of Amstell’s bittersweet wit – and there’s probably overlap between the two.
Benjamin wrings a lot of warmly perceptive, occasionally acidic humor. The film might be termed a romantic comedy, though the will-they-won’t-they dynamic that usually powers the genre feels beside the point here.
Part film industry satire, part winning love story, Benjamin is low-key and shambling but emerges funny, bittersweet and affecting.
Benjamin is a charming metropolitan rom-com which is ultimately too lightweight to escape the gravity of its influences.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
Amstell creates a detailed ecosystem of in-jokes from the worlds of media and film, and from that cynical context he conjures a miraculously heartfelt love story, sweet and poignant in all its awkwardness.
Benjamin is a brief, brisk movie that somehow manages to squeeze in seven characters of consequence, tell an amusing and romantic story, and still find the time to dip its toes into something darker.
The Observer (UK) by Simran Hans
The jokes are brutal and very funny, with Benjamin the butt of most of them.
Under the satire, there’s an authentic sense of emotional uncertainty.
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