'Privileged', the first theatrical release from the Oxford Film Foundation is probably most notable for having the dubious honour of being Hugh - or 'Hughie' as the credits would have it - Grant's screen debut. Essentially a student project the film follows a group of Oxford undergraduates as they move from party to party and hop from bed to bed. A vague 'whodunnit' subplot is in the mix too, that is if you can have a 'subplot' in such a formless narrative. The whole thing comes across as a very dated in-joke which might have been a wheeze to make but is actually quite hellish to sit through twenty years later. Some fun can be had spotting now familiar faces among the cast. These include Imogen Stubbs and (an actually very good) Mark Williams, familiar to British TV views from his work on The Fast Show. The show stealing performance however is from Ted Colman as the mysterious 'Barman'. One can't help but wish that his character would have had a little more screen time as only when he appears does the film truly come alive.
Review of Privileged
