the reunion film is not an original idea in any way , shape , or form . 
it's been done throughout film history over and over again , and has become one of the many sub-genres , like the prep school sub-genre , the angst-filled teen sub-genre , and the slasher sub-genre . 
what makes " peter's friends " so remarkable is not how it doesn't follow the rules of this sub-genre , but how it follows it so well , and creates characters that i wouldn't mind hanging with . 
what are the rules of the reunion sub-genre ? 
well . . . . 
1 . you need a group of friends , most of them married or at least dating , and sometimes even married or dating eachother . 
2 . you need to have them brought back together over some sort of a crisis . 
3 . they are not to have spoken together much since they split apart . 
4 . the reunion has to come in intervals divisible by 10 . 
5 . they all have to be slightly to highly neurotic . 
6 . the reunion has to bring them together , seperate them with little crises , then bring them back together because , after all , they're friends . 
7 . there has to be some sex or at least some making out either between the friends or with other people that are there or were invited . 
8 . eightly , they're all unhappy or marginally so . 
9 . there's some sort of sexual tension amongst some of them that's built up over the years . 
10 . the friends are all wildly successful in the world of entertainment and the arts , sometimes internationally so . 
11 . the film is filled with nostalgic radio hits from the time when they were friends , sometimes causing them to get together in dance/song . 
since it follows these rules so closely , it will probably be ( and has been ) coined off as just a " british 'big chill . ' " 
and in some ways it is . 
both follow the rules , as i said , and both feature lots of bitching , big confessionals , and broken relationships . 
but while " the big chill " was , at least to me , a tad too whiny and unsatisfying , " peter's friends " hits its mark , making this film funny , dramatic , and poignant . 
the friends of peter's were all in the same theatre group back in '82 , performig wildly outrageous british acts for people far too stuck up to enjoy them ( the opening scene has them all dancing in tux tops and tutus ) . 
after peter's ( stephen fry ) wealthy father ( richard briers , hardly on screen enough to register , but oh well ) dies , leaving a giant mansion to him , he has to decide whether or not to keep it . 
not sure what to do with it immeadiately , he decides to throw a giant reunion party , inviting back all his old chums . 
of course , all or most of his chums follow the tenth rule . 
andrew ( kenneth branagh , also directing here ) is an actor who's unhappily married to a tv star , carol ( co-writer rita rudner ) . 
maggie ( emma thompson ) is a successfuly publisher of self-help books , but looks like she needs them more than her customers , as she is lonely and unhappy . 
roger and mary ( hugh laurie and imelda staunton , who were also married in " sense and sensibility " ) are married , and are the most successful creators of jingles in the uk , but have suffered a tragedy as one of their newly born twins has recently died . 
and sarah ( alphonsia emmanuel ) is as promiscuous as ever , having a new boyfriend as of two weeks named brian ( tony slattery ) who's married and wants a divorce because of her , giving her doubts . 
as for peter , things seem okay . . . 
the film features lots of inner-friend jokes , and even some old theatre anecdotes ( which i at least find a lot of fun in , as i've done lots of theatre myself ) . 
and there are big confessions , brawls between the friends , and by the end , almost everyone is unhappy , even though some have resolved their problems long before the end ( which i kinda dug ) . 
the final twist would seem forced an anti-climactic , but for some reason , i felt the same way the rest of the friends did . 
maybe it's because the people in this film are so likable that i just wanted to join their clique . 
that's really what makes " peter's friends " so lovable : the way you just want to hang with a group of friends who can be so dysfuntional sometimes , but when someone's in crisis , can come together wonderfully for one another . 
it's when you have a giant crisis like this and people want to selflessly help you out instead of subtely pushing you away that makes you realize you have true friends , and these people are true friends . 
not to mention kenneth branagh is able to make the film seem nostalgic for the 80s ( a decade i grew up in , unfortunately ) without taking us outside of the 90s . 
there are some 80s classics and anti-classics like tears for fears " everybody wants to rule the world , " but unfortunately no stupid/fun 80s songs ( i think if i ever did an 80s reunion film , i'd put some crap go gos song on , or at least some good old " come on eileen " ) , but this is the british 80s we're talking about . 
oh well . 
but anyway , the direction is pretty good , although nothing amazing . 
branagh's forte is really making shakespeare fresh and magical , but at least he's very good with making a less ambiguous film like this . 
the writing is good from rita rudner and martin bregman , with lots of good one-liners , and even some really bad but good puns ( to mock the fact that andrew lives in l . a . , peter , while cutting some logs , asks him is he has wood in l . a . , and andrew says , " no , but we have hollywood " - punishment like that ) . 
the actors , as in most speaking movies , are better than their material , though , with some stand-out performances to the six friends , as well as the outsiders like slattery , rudner , and phyllida law as the old housekeeper of the peter's mansion . 
a little note should be made about hugh laurie's performance , as he looks like he took some massive doses of prozac before doing this - i mean , i've never seen him actually act this dramatically . 
 " peter's friends " is a really enjoyable film which makes people like me pine for some sort of future reunion , although i don't know what kind i'll have ( like most people , i don't look forward to my high school reunion ) . 
because of the way these friends are still able to maintain the same amount of care they have for one another and after such a long period of seperation , i just look forward to the day when i can have friends like that .