A consistently hilarious 90-minute chat that could have gone on for twice as long (or, ideally, a weekly television series) without ever feeling like too much of a good thing, “Tea With the Dames,” from director Roger Michell (“Notting Hill”), is as cozy and satisfying as its title suggests.
Simply, it consists of Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright and Dame Eileen Atkins gathering together at Plowright’s home and talking, and the verbal volleying, interruptions, sentence-finishing, and anecdotal confirmation of a 60-plus year friendship between the four only lags when the participants themselves look into the camera to tell the filmmakers that they’re tired.