Briefest Encounter (1993 TV Movie) User Reviews

The darkest and best.

[alhooky · 10/10 · 14 April 2003]

I first saw this 'Rik Mayall Presents...' episode about ten years ago. I loved it then, but was a bit too young to REALLY love it.

I watched it again yesterday, the first time I had seen it in about 9 years. I nearly died laughing.

There are several reasons this film is so brilliant. The first is that Peter Learmouth's script is excellent. An interesting feature is the way in which the viewer ends up not knowing who to feel sorry for, albeit until the very end.

The second reason is the acting. Amanda Donohoe is great, but Rik Mayall obviously steals the show. The 'Rik Mayall Presents...' run gave Rik a chance to show off his acting skills, and he actually can give impressive performances, which is difficult to believe when you are brought up wathcing Bottom and The Young Ones.

Finally, the directing is fantastic. The constant resurgence of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto adds a subtly to the film that cannot be described.

An interesting thing to observe is the number of jokes/themes that seem to have be taken from this film into the hollywood film "There's Something About Mary."

10/10 - Kudos.

One of the best

[ian1993 · 10/10 · 8 October 2021]

One of the few in a collection of TV movies made with Rik Mayall in the 90's.

While starting out serious, this film then takes dark and hilarious turns that cannot be predicted.

A must watch whether you are a Rik Mayall fan or just looking for some good laughs.

Briefest Encounter

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 19 December 2022]

Broadcast as part of Rik Mayall presents strand. This was an attempt to show Mayall could do serious drama or comedy.

Briefest Encounter is a two hander between Mayall Amanda Donohoe. Although there is also a dog involved.

He plays Greg who thinks he has struck it lucky with the beautiful Siobhan. Greg is in her flat and looks forward to a night of passion.

Unfortunately the dog does not like Greg and in a moment of panic, he attacks the dog leaving it for dead.

With blood in his hands, a night of unbridled sex gets further away. Mutual distrust and suspicion takes over both characters.

Briefest Encounter is a twisted black comedy. In essence both Greg and Siobhan are strangers who met in a party where Greg was a gatecrasher.

An interesting premise but I thought this would have been a lot stronger with finer writing. The direction tried to paper over some of the cracks, like how the dog does not bark when you think it would want to attract Siobhan's attention.