Alice & Jack

I just dont like romantic comedies at all! But this is so much more. The romance is enduring but utterly unorthodox. The comedy is dry and sardonic. Tragedy is the other player which provides the fuel for this wonderful study of love. "love" oozes out of Jack and manifests itself in a so many ways....not just his feelings for Alice.....these facets are worthy of fuller discussion. Credit to the screenwriting and the subtle direction for maintaining a pace which supports the narrative fully. Alice is unconventional in her dealing/management of love....understatement....by the fascination is why? Other characters are "real" and bring value and nuance to the evolving relationship story. Yes the eponymous protaganists can be irritating and even dislikeable....well Alice anyway...but these are realistic characters, real people....not romcom cliches. Bravo!

I enjoyed this tremendously. Riseborough and Gleeson are such breathtakingly wonderful actors. I felt privileged to have these couple of hours with them.

After watching the full season, I read some reviews of the show. Sadly, some were less than positive, but I couldn't help think they missed the point and the beauty of this story. I suppose if you're of the mind that sentimentality is to be reviled, you may agree with reviewers of that ilk and this production won't be for you. Indeed, this series is overtly sentimental, and at times quite melancholy. But for me at least, I felt the real message was one of hope. In a world that's become so fragile, and often seemingly broken, every once in a blue moon, there's a thing or two that can miraculously rise and remain unbroken. In these tumultuous times, I felt that a message worth hearing.

Alice & Jack isn't really a study in two characters. The main character here is the love between them, a love that likely should have dissolved time and again, and yet try as they might, will never go away. Again, a big standing "O" for Riseborough and Gleeson. They've done a wonderful job here.

I felt compelled to write this review to counter some of the other reviews which I suspect were written by people with vested interests.

One review felt blessed to be in gleeson and riseborough's presence for a few hours..... I don't think so, the acting is clunky and insincere, the story is wooden and daft, and these people talk about relationships as if they understand them completely having watched other people have them. I've never met people like this in real life which is probably because there aren't people like this in real life.

There is an element of the Before sunrise/sunset films about it, but those romances have more sincerity and a genuine flow to them. This story consistently jumps forward in a way that implies that vast chunks of these people's lives are meaningless. The way characters are described within the programme are completely at odds with how they come across. Even leaving a bad review is giving this series more attention than it deserves.

There are some television dramas that are simply bad: the plotting is implausable, the dialogue clunky, the acting wooden. 'Alice and Jack' doesn't have these problems; but in spite of this, it isn't very good. One problem it faces is a standard challenge for writers of romantic dramas: the viewer is expected to know that the central characters would be good together rather better than the characters themselves, as the drama lies in us watching them overcome the obstacles in their way. The obstacles faced by Jack in this drama are very simple: the Alice we meet is a selfish lunatic, the consequence of some deep family trauma. This makes it hard for the viewer not to simply wish that Jack will run a mile, so the story compensates by making Alice a genius. For example, when she decides to make amends, she simply lets him share in her ultimately successful plan to make millions speculating on oil futures. The whole framing is rather odd, as if her extraordinary qualities somehow excuse her obnoxiousness. The drama's other problem is something it actually does quite well, but does too much of. Most of us have some experience of falling in love, and of that sensation where everything in life seems heightened, in beauty as well as pain. Much of 'Alice and Jack' occurs in a gorgeous, almost hyper-real portrayal of the world; and in small doses, this would be fine, capturing how things might feel to its protagonists as key moments. The problem is that "much of" is a big understatement. Alice and Jack's entire world seems to consist of falling in (and out) of love with each other. This is not a story where mutual affection has to be squeezed in around the mundance realities of life; Alice's financial aptitude ensures there are no arguments about who's going to pay the rent this month, while all sympathetic figures in the story are good looking, and when tragedy strikes in the end, the central characters are both given those mysteriously beautiful and dignified deaths that sadly few people get off the television screen. I know some people have said they would have liked for Alice and Jack's best friends to be better developed, but personally I don't think much promise was missed there: they basically function as emotional support animals, dedicating their lives to the welfare of their fundamantally superior friends.

In summary, you could take a selection of scenes from this and make what looked like a trailer for the greatest love story ever told; but in fact, what we get in full is less of a story and more of a trailer spun out over six parts, all affect and no actual realism. The leading actors do their best with the material, but can't altogether save it.

Odd that this got poor to average ratings, and this series has made me question my faith in reviews. The 5 main cast members gave really great performances, and it was a story about true love, what's not to like? Perhaps it's not everyone's cup of tea, and it's not without fault, but I would advise you to give it a chance as I was swept away by it. It's the best thing I've seen all year. Obviously the two leads were great, but a special mention for Aisling Bea who really is a very good actor. Surely it's only a matter of time before she gets the lead she deserves. I want a friend like Sunil Patel btw. There is a lot of crap available to stream, it's not hard to find, but what is hard to find is a series that really draws you in, and keeps you thinking about it long after it's ended.