This is the kind of modish ensemble piece that enables a group of Britain's ageing bright young things to portray university friends 10 years on. The story of their reunion has moments of wit and perception but, after a delightful and often funny first 40 minutes, it becomes increasingly heavy going, dominated by a torrent of four-letter words and unlikely sexual shenanigans, and going right over the top with Kenneth Branagh's drunken rant at the end. A credibility problem exists throughout the film. The Branagh and Emma Thompson characters - she's initially delightful as a bookish singleton worried about the welfare of her cat - are especially inconsistent and hard to take, and only a superb Stephen Fry achieves the right blend of wit and melancholy that the piece requires.

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