It's summer of 1973. Freddie Taylor (Christian Cooke) comes from working class suburb of Cemetery Junction. He doesn't want to follow his father (Ricky Gervais) into the factories. He takes a job selling life insurance from district manager Mr Kendrick (Ralph Fiennes) and Mike Ramsay (Matthew Goode). He has a cool friend Bruce Pearson (Tom Hughes) and an idiot friend Snork (Jack Doolan). Childhood acquaintance and his boss's daughter Julie Kendrick (Felicity Jones) returns to town and is now engaged to Mike Ramsay. Mrs Kendrick (Emily Watson) is the long suffering wife.Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have mashed together a lot of coming-of-age stories for the setup of this movie. It's got great actors although the three male leads are unknown to me. That is its main drawback for the first half. It takes a little while for me to get involved with these friends. Then the movie take some interesting turns in the characters' journeys. It takes some digs at the stale British life. It's a bit uneven between broad comedy and tough social commentary. But I do like the effort it makes.

I don't really know Gervais' work, so I didn't really have any expectations. I also can't comment on the cultural aspects, so I watched it just as a story.The problem was that it was marketed as a comedy. When I watched it as such, I didn't like it at all. Can't say it particularly made me laugh. But I absolutely loved the last third, I just love such emotional scenes. (Even if it's clichéd, as some reviewers complained the film often is, if it's done well, it doesn't matter.) So I went back and watched it again immediately, this time as a drama, and I liked it way better.The cut glass bowl scene literally made my mouth fall open, it was so brilliantly done, and I found Bruce's opening of the two bottles so moving it gave me the shivers. Definitely not a comedy, and I will definitely watch it again.

I loved this film from start to finish. An absolute pleasure to watch! Quick and witty dialogue, feel-good story line and painfully funny, equip with fantastic characters! Not surprisingly brilliantly written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant! An absolute delight, Ricky and Steven should be very proud of this masterpiece.I couldn't get over how good the plot was, and how well written! The musical selection was equally fantastic, really setting the tone of the film well. Also a surprising movie, not only spectacularly hilarious, but sometimes heart wrenchingly touching.Young stars are budding, real talent has been discovered through the making of this film. Particularly by the young Tom Hughes who I thought was phenomenal in this role! Also good performance from Christian Cooke, Filicity Jones, Ralph Finnes and of course Ricky Gervais! Feel-good comedy, fresh, witty and extremely funny, written to perfection! Highly recommended!

Clichés abound in "Cemetery Junction", a wholly generic "coming of age" movie, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, two big name comedians in Britain.Aside from several gross-out gags and moments of crude humour, the plot is pure formula, the audience watching as a group of friends attempt to escape the dreary confines of small town Britain. Of course, like "American Graffiti", the one kid who has his heart set on staying in town and getting a "proper job" (the film rightfully despises post 60s white collar Britain), ends up leaving and going on an "artistic adventure", whilst the bad boys and likable losers, all of whom previously looked ready to take on the world, remain stuck behind. If you've seen "American Graffiti", "The Education of Charlie Banks", "The Last Detail", "Scent of a Woman", "Bad Influence", "Starter For Ten", "The Wanderers" etc, you've already seen this movie. Ironic that most movies which advocate "non conformity", "sticking it to the man" and "being yourself" are so drearily formulaic.Still, Gervais and Merchant insert some good jokes here and there and the film is fast and slick enough to overcome its clichés. Like most films made in Britain, "Cemetery Junction" uses every trick it can to make England seem bright, sunny and cheery. Here we see Gervais and Merchant overusing colour correction and straining to shoot on sunny days. The film is ashamed of itself, trying to capture the more marketable, sun-kissed tone of LA.7/10 – Worth one viewing.