REVIEW: Tea with the Dames is a delightful afternoon with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and gal pals

REVIEW: Tea with the Dames invites you to a lively afternoon tea with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and two other legendary ladies of British stage and screen. Don’t forget to RSVP!!!

TEA WITH THE DAMES (M)

Rating: Three and a half stars (3.5 out of 5)

Director: Roger Michell (Notting Hill)

Starring: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Eileen Atkins.

Linger, listen, learn and laugh

You are hereby invited to afternoon tea with four legendary ladies of British stage and screen.

Don’t make the mistake of neglecting to fire off an RSVP.

You should know the majority of the quartet assembled for Tea with the Dames, for it is not impolite to state they have all been around for a while.

L-R: Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Eileen Atkins and Judi Dench in a scene from documentary film Tea With the Dames

Even if you may not be totally across who they are or what they have done across their decorated careers, you will walk away from this docu-conversation affair feeling as if you have caught up with four old friends.

The big sister of the bunch and hostess for the day (at the country home she shared with late husband Laurence Olivier) is Joan Plowright, 88.

Joining her to dish some dirt on their shared profession - in the best possible taste, of course - are Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Eileen Atkins, all 83.

Maggie Smith in Tea With The Dames (2018), a Transmission Films release.

Being the best known of the group, Dench and Smith will undoubtedly prove to be the most popular raconteurs of the bunch. Both are not afraid of calling it as they see it, nor shy when it comes to using a salty word or three to make their point or punchline known.

The camaraderie of these women is infectious. A touch overly show-bizzy at times maybe, but they never cut you out of the loop for too long.

The interplay of the subjects can get surprisingly prickly, unapologetically honest and unexpectedly poignant in the blink of an eye.

A lovely, lively and quick little eavesdrop session.

Judi Dench in Tea With The Dames (2018), a Transmission Films release.

Originally published as REVIEW: Tea with the Dames is a delightful afternoon with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and gal pals