ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

Emotionally stunted, melancholy thirty-somethings struggling with adult responsibilities, knocking around a salubrious-looking part of London... hold up, this is a British film about relationships! Middle class setting aside, writer/director Col Spector's debut is a charming and polished comedy-drama which goes for home truths rather than flowery fakery, starring Green Wing-er Stephen Mangan as the unromantic lead who can't decide exactly which bit of the grass is greener.

When the weight of proposal-expectation weighs too heavily, David (Mangan) gets the itch and ends his three-year relationship with Lisa (Lynch) to be with another woman. Except happy endings only happen in the movies, and David's new woman has a new man of her own. But as a few heart-to-hearts reveal, things aren't plain sailing for David's friends either. Be they single, or well and truly married, it seems everyone is struggling with that thing called love.

"A POLISHED SCRIPT"

Someone Else is the top end of indie filmmaking, with a polished script and even shinier cinematography from Trevor Forrest, but it's low-key enough not to verge onto Richard Curtis territory. Mangan's lead is an easygoing neurotic, selfish yet empathic by turns, although not deep enough to make the film's conclusion (complete with Take That cover song) moving as opposed to just end-tying. Short, funny and bittersweet, just like some relationships are meant to be.

Someone Else is out in the UK on 7 September 2007.