For all the GP haters
The first time I saw this movie way back when, I hated it. Capital H Hated it. I was floored when it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, beating out my recent favorite The Royal Tenenbaums. I was flabbergasted and angry, and scoffed at the stupidity of the Academy.
A few months after I saw it the first time, I happened upon it again and grudgingly re-watched it. It has since become one of my favorite films of all time. I think my initial intense dislike was due to a few things.
First, being an American, I found it very difficult to follow some of the accents and dialogue upon my first viewing. A lot of the exchanges happen so quickly and so softly, that it was easy to miss a lot of the interactions, and thus made it very difficult to follow the plot lines, because there are so many and they intertwine so much.
Second, and this kind of is in the same idea as my first point, I was terribly confused with what was happening. Not having Downton Abbey to use as a reference, I didn't really understand the dynamics of the different classes, what was allowed/not allowed, why people behaved certain ways in front of some people and not others, etc. After I saw it the second time, I then watched it again on DVD with the Writer's Commentary by Julian Fellowes, which was INCREDIBLY helpful and informative. I urge everyone to listen to it if you haven't! (I actually found it way more interesting than the Director's Commentary with Robert Altman.)
Third, I think during my first viewing, I expected this to be a murder mystery film, like a lot of other people on this board seem to. Only after watching it the second time, did I really understand that the murder mystery was not the point of the film at all. It was essentially just a mere plot device used to study the relationships of upstairs and downstairs in a such a house during this time period.
To all the haters out there, if you truly enjoy well-written and well-acted (please leave your Ryan Phillipe opinions out, whatever they may be) and well-crafted films, give this one another try.
Let's try and be constructive here, people.