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She tries, even going so far as to make a trip to Paris, France to enjoy her “freedom” and ends up almost making it with a Frenchman until she decides at a crucial moment to pack her bags and return to the waiting arms of her boy toy organist (KENNY DOUGHTY). He reminds me of a handsomer but blander version of Johnny Depp.

When another more direct plan to convince their friend that she’s making a mistake backfires, the plot veers off into tragedy before gradually resuming a lighter tone as the friends stop bickering and decide to resolve their problems by enjoying a gin and tonic and “fags” (cigarettes in U.S.A.). We’re left with the notion that the best way for all three to solve their problematic out of control lives is to simply sit back, and, in the words of Fagin, “shut up and drink yer gin”.

At the end, there’s a cheated feeling that the story can be summed up as much ado about nothing. Perhaps a more delicate handling of the theme of unconventional behavior (especially from the so reserved British), would have been a better way to go.

The performances are all better than average, which makes it a shame that the film didn’t have more of a statement to make.

The bawdy behavior is treated in a casual fashion (the Brits are way ahead of us in matters of sex) and it’s all very uneven, never sure of itself and veering off into unpredictable areas instead of telling a story in a concise and believable way

“The Crush” is a pleasant enough 40-something friends romantic chick flick for the first two-thirds or so, as it tries to be a Brit “Sex and the City”.

I particularly enjoyed the turn-around of the trophy young hunk whose character is not much fleshed out (come to think of it we didn’t see all that much physical flesh of him either and Kenny Doughty is worth seeing more of).