Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!

We had a big party last week!

I reviewed the final installment of Gail Carriger’s Finishing School series, Manners & Mutiny. Sim’s virtual walking tour of London took us through the old and fascinating Brompton Cemetery. Heather reviewed both the book and the movie versions of Howl’s Moving Castle. Laurie shared slow-cooker recipes for Irish dishes just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Tina discovered a funny send-up of Superman, British-style. Georgie was also anticipating St. Patrick’s day with a story and a recipe.  Jackie shared a pub sign and the story behind it from Birmingham, England. Becky gave us two book reviews, one telling the true story of a bear named Winnie from WWI and the other continuing Anne Perry’s William Monk mystery series. Jean reviewed Bill Bryson’s The Road to Little Dribbling (she and Heather had a nice conversation in the comments on Heather’s review last month).

The movie poster for Man Up starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg

Thanks to Tina’s recommendation, we watched Man Up last week and really enjoyed it as an at-home date night movie. It’s a bit edgier than most of the romantic comedies we see, with more flawed characters, meaner jokes, and (as Tina noted) more swearing. But, it all added up to something that felt authentic and, oddly, sweet.

The female lead was played by Lake Bell. I first heard her on one of my favorite ever Fresh Air interviews by Terry Gross. Lake Bell was promoting her film In a World…(which I also loved). She had some really terrific advice for women about how and why to be more conscious and practiced about the way we use our voices.

It’s unusual for an American actress to play a British character, but Lake Bell specializes in voice, so I’m not surprised that she could pull it off — especially with the dialect coach we saw listed in the credits.

We loved the section of Man Up that was filmed on and near the Golden Jubilee Bridges. They were the quickest way across the Thames from where we stayed in London, so they feel like “our” pedestrian bridges. Here’s a post about our first walk, shortly after we arrived in London. So fun to see them again in the movie.

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?