Nicholas Hytner‘s film version of Alan Bennett‘s The History Boys (Fox Searchlight, 11.21) had its U.K. premiere three nights ago — Monday, 10.2 — before a black-tie audience and a couple of Royals (Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall). And it opens in England a week from tomorrow (i.e., Friday, 10.13).
So where are the trade reviews? Any reviews?
And why is the British website calling it “a comedy by Alan Bennett”? Nobody I know who saw The History Boys on Broadway called it that, and I don’t recall any reviewers using the “c” word either. It’s obviously funny in parts — the humor is very bright and there’s a lot of laughter in the play, although more of it in the first act — but it sounds like a stretch to me to call it an actual “comedy”. If you ask me the attempt to reposition it as such is an indication of…I don’t know. But I’m getting a funny vibe.