FINDING YOUR FEET
(director: Richard Loncraine; screenwriters: Meg Leonard/Nick Moorcroft; cinematographer: John Pardue; editor: Johnny Daukes; music: Michael J. McEvoy; cast: Tim Spall (Charles Glover), Celia Imrie (Bif), Imelda Staunton (Sandra Abbott), John Sessions(Mike Abbott), Josie Lawrence (Pamela Harper), Joanna Lumly (Jackie), David Hayman (Ted), Indra Ove (Corrina), Richard Hope (Care Home Manager), Sian Thomas (Lilly); Runtime: 111; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Charlotte Walls/James Spring/John Sachs/Meg Leonard/Nick Moorcroft; Roadside Attractions; 2017)
“A middle-brow British romantic comedy.“
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A feel-good capably made in Britain senior citizen comedy that’s adequately directed by Richard Loncraine (“Wimbledon”/”5 Flights Up”) to do what’s expected of such a populist genial film.
It’s written by Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft with traces of sentimentality and the usual type of odd and endearing characters you come to expect in a middle-brow British romantic comedy.
When ‘Lady’ Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton), a middle class, snobbish, old-fashioned, senior citizen discovers her wealthy husband of 40 years, a retiring police commissioner, Mike (John Sessions), has been having an affair with her best friend (Josie Lawrence), to avoid embarrassment in the community she leaves her suburban home in Sussex to stay with her never-married, older, estranged, pot smoking, bohemian sister Bif (Celia Imrie) in her cramped East London public housing flat. Upon the suggestion of Bif, the self-absorbed Sandra attends a dance class at the nearby community center. She soon meets Bif’s friends: Ted (David Hayman) and Jackie (Joanna Lumly) and, the light-hearted Cockney furniture restorer, Charlie (Timothy Spall). Charlie lives in a houseboat after selling his house to pay the bills of an expensive nursing home he placed his Alzheimer’s suffering wife in. The dance experience is a good thing for Sandra, as at a charity event in Piccadilly Circus, a tape of it goes viral and her center dance group is invited to perform in Rome.
There are a few incidents in Rome that try to bring more life to the narrative, and the opposite sisters start to bond. The adventure is an eye-opener for Sandra, who has a chance to change her lifestyle if she can let go of the past and not accept her husband’s pleas to get back together. It’s predictable stuff.
But if you enjoy such undemanding viewing you could do a lot worse than choosing this heart-tugger. For me, the dramedy with the great cast was too flat.
REVIEWED ON 8/25/2018 GRADE: C+ https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/