Nick Knowles is best known to me as a presenter of BBC television programmes that require him to stand around in a hard hat of the kind beloved by George Osborne. It turns out he's also a writer, and co-wrote the screenplay of this latest British entry into the comedy genre 'old people behaving badly'.
Arthur and Martha (no, really) are facing financial trouble: no sooner does the price of Martha's medicine dramatically increase than they discover Arthur's former employers have gone bust, meaning he will no longer receive his occupational pension. Arthur, enraged (he's played by Bernard Hill, so working-class anger is really the only option) decides to go on the rob. Before long Martha has joined him and they embark on a spree of bank hold-ups (combining same with a touring holiday of National Trust stately homes). But when their local bowls club is threatened, it's going to take more money than just the two of them can steal to save it: time to call in their friends.
This was not as laugh-out-loud funny as I thought it would be: there are some chuckly moments, but in the main it is the kind of comedy that raises a smile rather than a guffaw. Unfortunately, the script at times gets so preachy the viewer feels like he's being clubbed about the head: there is much talk of money-grabbing bankers and National Health Service 'postcode lotteries'. Careless writing (or editing) also causes some obvious errors: Alun Armstrong's police detective simply disappears toward the end of the film with no explanation; and unless I missed a vital bit of exposition the timings of the final heist do not work once the funeral has been taken into account.
So the real joy of this is - as so often with British films - seeing on the big screen actors you are more used to watching on television. As well as the afore-mentioned Hill and Armstrong, there are also Una Stubbs, Simon Callow (trying a West Country accent he should be thoroughly ashamed of), Phil Davis, Sue Johnston, Ellen Thomas (currently in 'EastEnders') - and, in a rare appearance, Virginia McKenna. It also makes a nice change for a British film not to be set in London (this is set in Bristol). But as for the script? Don't hang up the hard hat yet, Knowlesy...
Arthur and Martha (no, really) are facing financial trouble: no sooner does the price of Martha's medicine dramatically increase than they discover Arthur's former employers have gone bust, meaning he will no longer receive his occupational pension. Arthur, enraged (he's played by Bernard Hill, so working-class anger is really the only option) decides to go on the rob. Before long Martha has joined him and they embark on a spree of bank hold-ups (combining same with a touring holiday of National Trust stately homes). But when their local bowls club is threatened, it's going to take more money than just the two of them can steal to save it: time to call in their friends.
This was not as laugh-out-loud funny as I thought it would be: there are some chuckly moments, but in the main it is the kind of comedy that raises a smile rather than a guffaw. Unfortunately, the script at times gets so preachy the viewer feels like he's being clubbed about the head: there is much talk of money-grabbing bankers and National Health Service 'postcode lotteries'. Careless writing (or editing) also causes some obvious errors: Alun Armstrong's police detective simply disappears toward the end of the film with no explanation; and unless I missed a vital bit of exposition the timings of the final heist do not work once the funeral has been taken into account.
So the real joy of this is - as so often with British films - seeing on the big screen actors you are more used to watching on television. As well as the afore-mentioned Hill and Armstrong, there are also Una Stubbs, Simon Callow (trying a West Country accent he should be thoroughly ashamed of), Phil Davis, Sue Johnston, Ellen Thomas (currently in 'EastEnders') - and, in a rare appearance, Virginia McKenna. It also makes a nice change for a British film not to be set in London (this is set in Bristol). But as for the script? Don't hang up the hard hat yet, Knowlesy...