This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Mike Leigh is one of my favourite contemporary filmmakers. After two masterpieces: the underrated "Naked" (1993) and the internationally acclaimed "Secrets & Lies" (1996), he made this brilliant "little" film about two former flat mates, Annie (Lynda Steadman), extremely self-conscious, and Hannah (the always magnificent Katrin Cartlidge), wildly outspoken, who reunite for a weekend 6 years after their college graduation. They remember and discuss all the good and bad times they spent together, while trying to figure out their own current lives.In just 87 minutes, Leigh creates one of the most compelling, realistic and moving portrayals of a real long-term friendship and all its ins-and-outs. With a soundtrack composed of hits by The Cure and an amazing cast (not just the fantastic leading actresses shine: Mark Benton as the pathetic Ricky Burton and a pre-Gollum Andy Serkis in a hilarious cameo also stand out), "Career Girls" flows like an afternoon spent with a loved one we haven't seen for a long time. Forget "Beaches" and other cheesy tearjerkers: alongside Rob Reiner's classic "Stand by Me" (1986), "Career Girls" is one of the most beautiful friendship films you'll ever see. 10/10.

Before you watch a Mike leigh Film you must first forget you ever saw a Hollywood Movie. the only thing they share is celluloid. Career girls takes place in a world so far from hollywood that its as different from it as a book is from a Play. Its hard to credit the acting in it as the people seem so incredibly real and yes it may appear dull and overly realistic for peroids but Mike Leigh never fails to hit the mark in what are usually quite short films. Sometimes the position of the mark is up to the viewer to decide but one thing is certain is these people will have to get up tomorrow cause lifes issues cannot be solved in a 90 minute segment. their direction may be a bit clearer of if it was clear it may be more confused. if nothing else as a man in my mid thirties it made me think of some of the people that flitted in and out of my life at various time through college different jobs and so on. and yes i could relate to the Rick figure , not every one will turn out all right. every 'Bum' on the street has had a past life and many of them very different to how you now see them Life can sucks but there is always hope and there no one better than Mike leigh to show that

two old friends meet up and reminisce about their student years living above a chinese take away, whilst coincidence plays fast and loose with the trip. kaitlin is a complete star (as usual) playing hannah with fantastic gusto.

Mike Leigh's often improvised, raw films can be off-putting if you're unprepared. He has a real nack for finding performers who put their full souls into his films and the style of the acting in this film explodes with a vibrant, distinctive energy. A slice-of-life tale of two college friends who meet up years later and find coincidence and fate entwine in quite unpredictable ways, the film is all about the tensions beneath the surfaces and those things that so often go unsaid. Its a love story between friends much like "Muriels Wedding" and again without a sexual component. The two women undertake an exterior and interior journey and learn about the love that friendship quietly evolves. Cartlidge and Steadman are unique performers and the beautiful music score is by "Secrets and Lies" actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste.