21 Up

I hate to say it, because this series is so highly regarded, but I remain rather ambivalent. Certain characters are emerging as people whose futures I'm curious about: John the douchebag, Suzi the bored little rich girl, Tony the cabbie, Neil the squatter. Others I'm less curious about, although Apted often spends unreasonably long stretches of time talking to them and eliciting little of interest. Oddly, it's not the use of clips from the prior films that inflate the running time as much as these long-winded interviews. This installment does get a leg up in the sense that a larger picture is being drawn, we can see more of a development through these peoples' lives. But there still isn't a ton of compelling material, nor much in the way of unexpected sociological observations. It's all pretty much what you'd expect. I considered bailing out of the series here, but I'll give it one more chance to win me over. I do consider age 28 to be an interesting time in my life, maybe it will be in theirs as well.