Aristocrats gather together for a weekend shooting party with their dutiful servants in tow, like upstairs/downstairs, allowing for overlapping bits of dialogue and numerous subplots to betray underlying motives and the sins that propel them. Greed, vengeance, snobbery, and lust stir comic unrest. Maggie Smith is marvelous as Constance, a dependent countess with a quip for every occasion; Michael Gambon, as the ill-fated host, Sir William McCordle, is one of the most palpably salacious characters ever on screen; and Kristin Scott Thomas is perfectly cold yet sexy as Lady Sylvia, Sir William's wife, plus key characters from the servants' quarters below. Gosford Park manages to be fabulously entertaining while exposing human shortcomings, compromises, and our endless need for confession. [amazon.com review]

CLICK COVER TO PURCHASE DVD