It’s taken me days to uncringe: All My Friends Hate Me reviewed

All My Friends Hate Me is a film about a university reunion weekend and should you have an upcoming university reunion weekend, I’d duck out if I were you. No good will come of it. This is social anxiety as horror (almost) and you won’t just cringe for the full 90 minutes, you will violently cringe. It may take you days to uncringe. It’s a clever film, and surprising, and compelling. Yet it is also an endurance test. You won’t regret seeing it, but you will be so glad when it’s over.

This is written by Tom Palmer and Tom Stourton who first met at Eton, which is not an irrelevant fact as this is essentially and darkly about class. Stourton, who is also an actor, stars as Pete, and this is told from the point of view of Pete who, at the outset, is the relatable one.

Pete, who has been working abroad in refugee camps, has been invited to celebrate his 31st birthday with George (Joshua McGuire) at the country mansion owned by George’s father. George has a wife, Fig (Georgina Campbell) and they will also be joined by Archie (Graham Dickson), a terrifically posh coke fiend, and Claire (Antonia Clarke), Pete’s former girlfriend who appears fragile. Pete has a new girlfriend, Sonia (Charly Clive), who will be joining the party the following day. Sonia is not posh. She is from up north and isn’t convinced about the weekend. But Pete reassures her: ‘They’re not just stereotypical toffs, really.’

Directed by Andrew Gaynord, the film is unsettling and off-kilter from the start. Pete is even rattled by his drive up to the manor, thanks to a run-in with a bleating tied-up dog, a homeless person living in a car, and a bizarre interaction when he asks for directions.