Best of friends - or, should that be frenemies?
Stories of double acts and friendships - most of which will make you crease with laughter
As Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande are taking the world by storm with the release of Wicked, my head filled with thoughts of unlikely pairings & friendships. For years, stories featuring frenemies, double acts, best pals and girl gangs have disgusted, envious, amused & generally entertained us. Hopefully those listed below will remind you of some classics worth revisiting - or discovering for the first time.
TL;DR
Old school Hollywood: Watch The Odd Couple for some ‘60s frenemies and if you like that try some ‘90s femme fatales in Death Becomes Her.
Read Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers for a kind of fauxmance forged from a disingenuous friendship.
Watch Ab Fab and Ladies of Letters for some f*cking funny women.
Listen to Double Acts by John Finnemore for funny duologues.
WATCH
One of the most enduring on-screen partnerships came in the form of two of the great character actors of the 20th century: Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau. The Odd Couple was originally a Broadway hit by Neil Simon, who adapted it for screen & was yet another hit upon its cinematic release in 1968. (I started off this newsletter under the impression that The Odd Couple was their first turn together - how wrong I was: it was Billy Wilder’s The Fortune Cookie… & Matthau won an Oscar for it. I’ll be taking a spin through that in the weeks to come)
If you don’t know the story: it’s a comedy about a neat-freak and a slob who decide to live together after their respective divorces. Both are available on Apple TV+.
If you like that & you want a bit more “ugh - we’re stuck with each other” storytelling kitsch (& who doesn’t love a bit of kitsch?) then check out the 1992 stone cold classic: Death Becomes Her.
Meryl Streep & Goldie Hawn star as the best of frenemies, each obsessed with looking young. Long story short: they get their hands on the font of youth, of sorts, & hilarity involving Isabella Rossellini ensues. Watch on all sorts of platforms; the cheapest of which seems to be Prime Video.
READ
If you love those, may I suggest you try Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers.
Set in London in 1957, it’s the story of journalist Jean Swinney: the only female journalist on a local paper facing all the challenges one would expect for a woman in the workplace in the 1950s. Gretchen Tilbury writes in to the paper claiming that her daughter was born of immaculate conception - and Swinney is sent to investigate, forging a friendship with Tilbury & her husband, Howard, in the meantime.
WATCH
A classic tale of older female frenemies with the most delightfully cutting delivery is Ladies of Letters.
The show stars Anne Reid & Maureen Lipman as pensioner pen pals filmed narrating their letters of constant one-up-(wo)manship to each other. I’ve also just discovered that the BBC Radio 4 show on which it was based on is available on Spotify. (The radio version had an equally stellar cast of Patricia Routledge and Prunella Scales) It’s a snapshot of the true pettiness that runs through some women to their very core and is often accompanied by a wondrous absence of self-awareness - leading to delicious consequences for those of us watching on.
But the double act to end all double acts can really only be: Absolutely Fabulous.
Drink, drugs, ridiculous clothes, women being brilliantly silly & unfiltered and a very, very judgemental daughter…Patsy & Eddy ably supported by Bubble, Saffron and June Whitfield as Mother. Iconic. If you haven’t watched it (which would be simply mad): rectify that immediately. If you have, what are you waiting for? Watch it again.
If you enjoy a trip down memory lane & learning backstage secrets, U&Gold recently aired a documentary about the show: Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out
LISTEN
Those of you who are fans of BBC Radio 4 will have come across the comedy genius that is John Finnemore: his wit and brain simply operate on a different level. If you haven’t, seek him out & give him a listen, you won’t regret it, you’ll howl with laughter. Back in the mists of time (a.k.a. 2015…), he created two seasons of John Finnemore’s Double Acts.
Each episode is a self-contained exchange between two characters and the cast is delightful: Celia Imrie, Rebecca Front & John Bird to name but a few. A fun distraction for a dull commute.
If you have any suggestions of titles you love that you wish to share with the world, email lucie@likethislovethis.com with the name & a short review and they could be shared in a forthcoming newsletter.