The West Wittering Affair review

Reviews

Dec 15th 2006 By Total Film

Playing out like the love-child of Peep Show and car-crash TV classic Wife Swap, David Scheinmann’s The West Wittering Affair is an indie sex comedy of errors. Part fly-on-the-wall documentary, it charts the repercussions of a romantic weekend set around West Wittering in Sussex (oh, the thrills). With distinct whiffs of Mike Nichols’ Closer, Scheinmann weaves a predictable web of love and betrayal for his sex-wise thirtysomethings to bed-hop themselves haplessly through. Flitting between time periods and generating about 15 twists too many, the film primarily suffers due to a total absence of laughs. A refreshing dramatic treatment of modern romance it may well be, but the dusty therapeutic approach leaves behind a clogging aftertaste.