The most dislikable collection of friends in literature are Bassanio and his coarse, sponging chums in The Merchant of Venice. I was reminded of them last week when recalling that the worst of the lot – the witless, anti-semitic Gratiano – was played in the Al Pacino film version by Kris Marshall. A specialist in such roles, Marshall virtually reprises his Gratiano as one of three loathsome Londoners who create havoc when they accompany their best friend to Australia to be best men at his wedding. He's to marry the daughter of a self-made Liberal senator at a grand villa in the Blue Mountains, outside Sydney. The setting is as beautiful as the goings-on are clumsy and grotesque. When embarrassment fails to be funny, it ends up as truly excruciating, and such is the case here. The saddest casualty is Olivia Newton-John as the bride's depressed mother who gets high on coke provided by the British best men.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/sep/02/few-best-men-review
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