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Ever since her eye-catching debut as the sharp-tongued Rhonda in "Muriel's Wedding", Rachel Griffiths has beem one of cinema's true chameleons. Whether playing an earthy Wessex slut in "Jude", Emily Watson's put-upon sister in "Hilary and Jackie", or Johnny Depp's mom in the forthcoming "Blow", the 32-year-old Aussie has an uncanny ability to reinvent herself with every film – thanks in part to her astonishing dexterity with a variety of different accents.
She may boast a Welsh last name, but there's nothing in her physical make-up that would suggest her suitability to play the title role in Sara Sugarman's whimsical new comedy. But she's quite the best thing in this offbeat story of a shy baker's daughter who finds the courage to break free from his overbearing influence.
Jonathan Pryce plays the monstrous Jack Pugh, who delivers his loaves in a Luciano Pavarotti mask and uses Annie-Mary as a human sleeping bottle whenever his feet get cold. Then again, he's par for the course in a village whose residents include a pair of gay shopkeepers called Hob and Nob (Ioan Gruffudd and Matthew Rhys) and a dying teen (Joanna Page) who will be off to Disneyland if the Mayor can raise enough cash.
More a collection of comical vignettes than a fleshed-out narrative, Very Annie-Mary suffers from the same frustrating inconsistency that blighted Sugarman's debut picture, Mad Cows. Like that film it will probably divide audiences right down the middle, but it's worth catching for Griffiths' warm and winning central performance.
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"Very Annie May" is due out in cinemas on 25th May 2001.
