Streaming must: The Hugh Grant renaissance continues via Stephen Frear's tone-perfect joy, A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL

Never off the grid of television or movie screens for more than a year or so, at longest, British actor Hugh Grant is now approaching his senior years (he turns 58 this September) with a renewed vigor and presence that seems nothing short of remarkable. Think for a moment of his last three outings. In 2016, he got a Golden Globe nomination for his work as the helpful, loving and straying husband to and in Florence Foster Jenkins. I hope you did not miss his delightful and versatile work in 2017's Paddington 2, which ought to have garnered him a Best Supporting Oscar were it not that the Academy seldom takes seriously great comic acting (his musical number during the end credits alone is sensational). Paddington 2, by the way, has the distinction of being the most highly rated movie ever on Rotten Tomatoes. (Deservedly so, too. It gives non-stop pleasure and delight, while everyone connected with the film -- actors, writers, director, costumers, production designers -- is top-notch.)

Now we have A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL, the new three-part series from BBC One, available to stream via Amazon Prime. As directed by Stephen Frears (shown at right), one of the world's best but least-fully-appreciated filmmakers, with a screenplay by Russell T. Davies and John Preston, the movie manages what can only be called a near-perfect tone throughout. What I mean is that, although it deals with "criminal" sexuality (as homosexuality was stupidly viewed in Britain, as the movie's time period begins), betrayal, infidelity, blackmail and murder, the film itself is about as witty and consistently delightful as you could believe possible, given the subject matter.

How Frears, Davies, Preston and their enormously gifted cast manage this is by never over-doing the comedy but letting it flow naturally from these characters, many of whom are entitled, pompous and hugely hypocritical British males of the 1960 and 70s. The humanity of every single character here is never for a moment lost, even as we delight again and again in their foibles. Their clever, sometimes near-poetic/pornographic dialog flows so readily and naturally that to miss even a line or two would be a shame indeed.

Mr. Grant (above) is at his coldest, silliest and often saddest here, and he is matched scene for scene by the wonderful Ben Whishaw (below), who plays the most truthful, least hypocritical character in the film -- even if his antics often prove quite shocking, considering the time frame of the film.

That the movie is based on a real-life tale -- do stay for the end-credit sequence that will bring you up-to-date on what happened to these people -- only makes the goings-on that much more mind-boggling fun.

From practically the first encounter we view -- that of Grant's character, the light of the Liberal Party, Jeremy Thorpe, and his good friend Peter Bessell (played by a terrific Alex Jennings, above, right), as the two discuss their sexual preferences, the banter is simultaneously surprising, beautifully restrained yet still jolting, and funny despite itself. It also perfectly encapsulates the men's sense of entitlement: so absolute that's it's simply a given.

How the tale unfurls to encompass the most awful things -- most of which do not, finally, occur -- simply increases the series' black humor, with a wonderful array of subsidiary near-nitwits brought into the plot. (Two of these -- played by Blake Harrison above, left, and Dyfan Dwyfor above, right -- are especially funny.)

Mr. Frears usually jumps and mashes genres and I suspect this proves a great help in his ability to achieve his special and remarkable consistent "tone" within a film that melds genres so thoroughly (think of his work in The Grifters, Hero, Dirty Pretty Things, Tamara Drew and Lay the Favorite, just for starters). He manages this again here, achieving in the process one of his most succulent successes.

As one might expect in a tale that deal so much with homosexuality, it is the men here with whom we are most concerned. And yet, the few women who appear in any way prominently are brought to fine life by the actresses involved. Especially good are Patricia Hodge (two photos up) as Thorpe's mum, Monica Dolan (above, right) as his second wife,

and a deliciously on-target Michelle Dotrice (above, right, with very large dog) as the bar owner who proves such an aid to the Whishaw character in his time of need.

As for Mister Whishaw (above and below), who comes through with colors flying, if this fine actor ever get another role as juicy as this one, I shall be first in line to see the result. As Norman Josiffe/Norman Scott, he so thoroughly gives over to the bizarre, amazing and anything-but-politically-correct personality of this young man that he earns completely our disbelief, shock and finally enormous admiration.

What a story -- and how very well it has been told! You can catch it now via Amazon streaming. If you're already an Amazon Prime member, it's free -- this three-part series alone makes Prime worth the entire year's membership -- but if not, the episodes are well worth paying for.

More Republican party ugliness and destruction, as Reuben Atlas and Samuel D. Pollard's ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM hits DVD

I suspect most of us will remember one of the big news stories of 2009, in which the nationwide community organizing group, ACORN, was beset by a major scandal involving an "undercover" operation in which a young man and woman, purporting to be a pimp and his whore, went into an ACORN office and talked its workers into supposedly helping the pair get a loan on a house they would then use as a brothel.

Yes, this seemed on the face of it to be utterly ludicrous, but there it was, captured on videotape for the whole country to see. See it, we did. Fox News, of course, made an ongoing meal of it, and much of the mainstream media did, too -- without doing a lick of the required investigation into the video's veracity.

One of the great strengths of the new documentary, ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM, by filmmakers Reuben Atlas shown at right) and Samuel D. Pollard (below), is that, after introducing us to a

few ACORN workers and giving a short history of the organization -- designed to help the working class and poor by helping them help themselves -- as well showing us the pair of shysters determined to "expose" ACORN, the movie tells its tale of a sham and scam that somehow looks "real" in pretty much the same manner that this story originally unfolded. The filmmakers refuse to give away their hand too early. This allows the viewer to better understand how something so unfair and dishonest could have taken place here in "democratic" America. Sure enough, as the documentary rolls along, we're caught up once again in how stupid and thoughtless these ACORN workers seemed -- before at last we are shown and told, with all the requisite proof, what really happened.

By the end of the film, sadness and disappointment have turned to shock and anger. Yes, the head of ACORN made some mistakes regarding family, transparency, and moving the power structure of the organization from local to national. But these pale in significance to the shoddy and actually unlawful scam perpetrated against ACORN.

We meet the perpetrators, abetted by that late, anything-but-great sleazebag Andrew Breitbart (what a shame his heart attack did not take place a few years earlier), and watch our anti-heroine, Hannah Giles (above) practicing self-defense in a video that looks every bit as unbelievable and unconvincing (with those very slow moves against an assailant, she'll be dead in no time) as does her later and more famous video (the unedited version I mean) with co-conspirator James O'Keefe.

TrustMovies does not want to spoil the surprise and more delivered by the twists and turns this documentary takes as its tale unfolds. You'll come away from it with enormous respect and appreciation for the film's true heroine, a woman named Bertha Lewis, below, who led ACORN during its latter days. The filmmakers arrange a meeting between Ms Lewis and Ms Giles to end their film, and the restraint Lewis shows toward the not merely naive but really stupid Giles is exemplary. When Giles, who behaves like an entitled piece of trash, declares, "I don't ____!" as though this were a badge of honor (you'll have to view the doc to learn what it is she does not do), you'll suddenly realize what jaw-droppingly dumb actually looks like.

Who stood up for ACORN and its proud, 40-year history or demanded a real investigation of what went on here? Nobody. Not even our crass and cowardly Democrats like Chuck Schumer, Al Franken or even a certain President Obama, who gladly signed the bill into law that defunded the organization. And, as ever, the post-event and more truthful news took a decided back-seat to the fake "event" news that preceded it. ACORN and the Firestorm is a sad, anger-making commentary on truth and fact in the USA -- which of course has only grown worse over the past two years of Trumpiana.

Pictured above is the fellow who opens the documentary by unfurling a Confederate Flag and then telling us, "This is 'heritage not hate'," even as he also explains how he came to connect with ACORN and how the organization helped save his and his wife's home from foreclosure during the 2008 financial crisis. He's a most interesting choice to provide entryway into this fine documentary, which I suspect will be on my list of "best films," come the end of the year.

From First Run Features, via iTVS, the documentary, running a swift 83 minutes, opened in a very limited theatrical run the beginning of this month and will hit DVD come Tuesday, May 15. 

The political tale our our time: Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg's riveting, baffling WEINER

Why is the new documentary, WEINER -- about the hoped-for comeback then further implosion of the political career of former congressman and would-be mayor of New York City, Anthony Weiner -- so redolent of the time in which we live? For the simple (or not so) reason that -- unlike, say, the 1970s politician Gary Hart (and so many others) who placed his actual penis inside of someone outside his marriage, was found out by the press (he stupidly taunted them, as I recall) and had his political career destroyed -- Mr. Weiner's wiener, so far as we know, never entered a vagina other than his wife's. His was a "virtual reality" scandal in which nothing more than a photograph of his dick was placed online, by the man himself, for a lady friend (or several) to view and appreciate.

Now, this was every bit as stupid as Mr. Hart's actions, and even if it does not make the man an adulterer, it brands Weiner (shown at right and below) as a wannabe one, as well as someone just a little too stupid -- for all his seeming intelligence and progressive politics -- to be given his constituents' trust and votes. How does something like this happen? Particularly to a man who otherwise would seem to have so much to offer? This is the question, among some other good ones, that filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg (shown below) try to address in their new, eponymously-titled documentary. And it is one that really needs an answer. seeing as how the Internet and its discontents are with us--constantly seducing us--in more and more ways these days.

One can certainly understand how politicians -- who self-aggrandize to the point that they can seem, in the mirror anyway, to be all-powerful -- would use their power to obtain extra-curricular sex whenever possible. But what accounts for doing all this in "virtual reality," a non-place in which the payoff is.... well, what, exactly? On-line masturbation? Or maybe a "sense" of intimacy with (or power over) women you actually don't need to get to know? Clearly, the candidate, while imploding, was in no mood, nor did the situation make it easy, to address the question. At one point in the film, Mr. Weiner seems to think about this and expresses some thoughts regarding the "appeal" and "intimacy" of the Internet. But we need to go much deeper into this subject, and not simply where politicians are concerned. Why do kids post such compromising photos of themselves online? Why did Hillary use an illegal form of email to do government business? The Internet entices us all -- and it is not private, hello! -- with the results of its usage all too often unintended and harmful.

So, other than touching on this important subject, what else do we get from this unusual documentary? The two filmmakers were originally hired to document the candidate's run for mayoral office, and once the campaign began, along with the further revelations of Weiner's "sexting," the filmmakers simply stayed on -- through thick and thin. To his credit (or maybe his hubris), Weiner allowed them to continue filming, and the result is the fly-on-the-wall document we can now view. Alternately surprising, funny but mostly sad, we come to see and somewhat know Weiner, his wife Huma (above, right) and his campaign staff of energetic, likeable kids who care about their candidate and what he stands for.

The documentary, as you may have gathered already, is about as up-close-and-personal as one could get in terms of what is going on, and why. Weiner is smart, articulate and seemingly well-intentioned. We watch him march in parades, talk to the voters, speak on City Island, and even after the further degradations are out of the bag, his words and ideas still resonate. (Hell, even now, I'd vote for this guy over a pompous, phony windbag like Donald Trump -- whose probably tiny dick has undoubtedly been in more out-of-wedlock habitats than those of most politicians.)

Throughout this documentary, the ongoing feeling is one one of sadness for the people and their situation: Here, again, is a gifted, caring politician who lets his cock get the better of his brain until his career implodes. It's the old story in a newer, virtual setting. The results, however, are pretty much the same. "You are there" at each step along the way, and at the end, waste and sorrow reign.

Weiner, from Sundance Selects/IFC Films opened last week in New York and L.A. and goes nationwide tomorrow, Friday, May 27. Here in South Florida, you can see it in the Miami area at The Tower Theater, The Bill Cosford Cinema, and the O Cinema-Wynwood; in Fort Lauderdale it will play at the Classic Gateway.