All My Friends Hate Me is a story about thirty-something people belonging to the privileged class of Britain, living through uncomfortable social anxiety which gives rise to comical scenes. Its story is more like that friend who wakes up one day in the morning of an important event, only to get a self-revelation about what he is going to do.
This story starts with Pete ( played by Tom Stourton) coming back from a refugee camp and expecting to meet his friends George ( played by Joshua McGuire) and his wife Fig (portrayed by Georgina Campbell), Archie (played by Graham Dickson) and Pete’s unstable ex, Claire (played by Antonia Clarke), at his friend’s posh place to celebrate his birthday weekend. His girlfriend, Sonia (portrayed by Charly Clive) was also going to join them, but she would only come into the scene the next day. In spite of spending several years apart, Pete and his friends had expected things to remain the same and feel as if no time had passed separate, but as time passed, this belief only got less and less true.
Things get weirder when Pete reaches the place and hoots expecting his friends to hoot back, only to be greeted by an empty room. There was no one to acknowledge his hoot, starting the awkward long-time-no-meet appeal. They do finally unite at the starting of the movie itself, but Pete gets shoved off to the side by the introduction of another stranger, Harry ( played by Dustin Demri-Burns). Harry keeps taking away the limelight, increasing Pete’s insecurity. The story plays to show how a friend keeps looking for the loser in the circle, and when he does not recognise one, he realises that it is most probably because he himself was in the loser position of the group. All My Friends Hate Me surrounds this kind of insecurity anf ills it with laughter.
This story written by Stourton and Tom Palmer is a perfect example of how humour and horror can also be clubbed to create a much enjoyable situation. For the audience watching it, that is. The story does come forward, but with much interest. It isn’t the normal everyday story or maybe it is, only depicted in a very created manner. The script is definitely a unique one. The movie is the definition of perfect, from the script to the dialogues to the woozy camera work to the superb editing. Everything was on point.
Credits should also be given to Tom Stourton, who played the character really well. One would even agree to the statement that no one else would have portrayed Pete better than Stourton. His way of handling each dialogue along with his expressions, everything made Pete the character he is.
The movie is about a phase of life that almost everyone goes through. The phase of meeting friends after years when they had promised to meet every month. Reunions in general are often awkward, no matter how connected you were. This movie could just express that well, along with the awkwardness of the social class insecurity. Also, things do not feel any better when you enter the thirties, where you are way much older and different from how you were with your friends. The movie also puts forward another question, is this feeling of awkwardness real? Or do we feel so because we believe so? You may find the answer to this question by watching the film. Or you may find out how people feel about this situation or at least find out whether All of Pete’s friends actually hate him.
