Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, Harold Pinter Theatre review - cool cast chills the drama

★★★ LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS, HAROLD PINTER THEATRE Cool cast chills the drama

West End transfer for Sam Steiner’s fringe classic does the play no favours

Culture which arrives from the margins to the mainstream is a classic phenomenon. In the case of Sam Steiner’s Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons it has taken almost a decade for this two-hander to make the journey from a student production at Warwick University, via the Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 – plus outings to the National Student Drama Festival and Edinburgh Festival – to the West End.

The Band's Visit, Donmar Warehouse review - still waters run bittersweet

★★★★ THE BAND'S VISIT, DONMAR WAREHOUSE Still waters run bittersweet

Feted Broadway musical finds an apt London fit

Not much happens but, in its way, everything does in The Band's Visit, the gentle, sweet-natured musical that rather unexpectedly stormed Broadway late in 2017 and is just now receiving a notably empathic London debut.

Much Ado About Nothing, National Theatre review - Shakespeare’s comedy goes Hollywood musical

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, NATIONAL THEATRE Simon Godwin delivers an unexpectedly conventional production, larky and fluffy

Simon Godwin delivers an unexpectedly conventional production, larky and fluffy

After gender-flipping the National’s Malvolio, the director Simon Godwin might have been expected to be equally bold with Much Ado About Nothing at the same address. A same-sex Beatrice and Benedick romance? Dogberry in bondage gear, zonked out on poppers? True, Godwin has been free with the text, cutting freely and turning Governor Leonato into a hotel owner with a wife instead of a brother, but this production is still unexpectedly trad.

The Lost City review - terrific odd-couple comedy

★★★★ THE LOST CITY Sandra Bullock & Channing Tatum star, Brad Pitt's cameo adds to the fun

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum star, Brad Pitt's cameo adds to the fun

Sandra Bullock is on terrific form in this rollicking romcom in which she plays Loretta Sage, a historian who writes bestselling romance novels in which the heroine has adventures in exotic places with her lover, Dash. Now, still grieving the loss of her archeologist husband five years before, Loretta has been sent on a book-signing tour by her manager, Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, giving it both barrels).

Marry Me review - Jennifer Lopez vehicle delivers

Romcom is sweet but not saccharine

Lots of drama follows well-worn paths; just as we expect that in a tragedy that Chekhov's gun (or variants of it) will deliver the denouement, so we know that in a romcom the two leads will end up together. So – no spoilers, but you know the drill – Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's characters overcome all sorts of obstacles that could thwart their romance.

My New York Year review - lacklustre portrait of an ingenue

★★ MY NEW YORK YEAR Old-fashioned romcom aimed at a young female audience

Old-fashioned romcom aimed at a young female audience misses its mark

This pallid chick flick limps out on release having changed its title since its Berlinale 2020 debut; in the US it's known as My Salinger Year, but perhaps market research in Blighty decreed that name-checking the author of The Catcher in the Rye wouldn't play as well here.

Rare Beasts review - Billie Piper as triple threat

★★★★ RARE BEASTS Self-described 'anti-romcom' is nervy and edgy

Self-described "anti-romcom" is nervy and edgy

Emotions don't come in half-measures in Rare Beasts, with which Billie Piper makes a commendably edgy debut as writer-director onscreen while affording herself a stonking star part. Dedicated., we're informed, to "all my friends and all their woes", this self-described "anti-romcom" may be too stylistically indulgent for some.

Moxie review - likeable if confused high school comedy

★★★ MOXIE Likeable if confused high school comedy

Amy Poehler's sophomore directing effort is both winning and wayward

A teen comedy with a thematic difference, Moxie has enough memorable moments to firmly establish comedian Amy Poehler as a director worth reckoning with in what is her second film, following Wine Country in 2019.

Good Grief, Platform Presents online review - a little more, please

★★★ GOOD GRIEF Sian Clifford and Nikesh Patel do their best with a mercurial show

Sian Clifford and Nikesh Patel do their best with a show that's as mercurial as grief

Good Grief, a new show from American screenwriter and playwright Lorien Haynes, can’t work out what it wants to be. It’s billed as an “online filmed production”.

Baby Done review - romcom done right

★★★★ BABY DONE Funny, sincere, charming Kiwi comedy about unexpected pregnancy

Funny, sincere and completely charming Kiwi comedy about unexpected pregnancy

Romcoms. We all know the tried and tested formula: immature guy, uptight girl, they meet, they like each other, hate each other, and end up in love. It’s as reliable as it is unrealistic, and sometimes it takes a film like Baby Done to remind you there is a better way.