I've wanted to see this gentle British comedy-drama for a while. It played to full houses at the Roxy the previous weekend, and there were only a couple of empty seats yesterday. Often it's hard to find these non-blockbuster films.... I mean films that don't have any murders, explosions, death, torture, and other violent forms of entertainment. That's not my thing.
In Dustin Hoffman's debut as a director, three retired members of an
opera quartet—Cissy (Pauline Collins), Wilf (Billy Connolly) and
Reginald (Tom Courtenay)—live in Beecham House retirement home for musicians and
perform a fundraising concert every year to celebrate Giuseppe Verdi's birthday.However, when Reginald's ex-wife and the fourth and most famous member of the quartet, Jean (Maggie Smith.... also known as Violet, Countess of Grantham if you are a Downton Abbey fan!), arrives at Beecham House, rivalries stir and temperaments clash, making it unknown if the show will go on.
The storyline is somewhat weak, but the film is saved by the bantering that goes on between the principal characters which is very funny. Other residents of the retirement home are played by retired opera singers, musicians, and actors who have reached their "golden years". This isn't a "great" movie, but I really enjoyed it, and the audience obviously agreed with me as there was enthusiastic applause as the titles scrolled across the screen.
And I'll watch anything with Billy Connolly in it!
Exactly: not great, but good and enjoyable. I hadn't realized until yesterday that Hoffman directed.
ReplyDeleteAs a comedian, I was never a great fan of Billy Connolly, but I have seen a couple of things he has done as an actor and was pleasantly surprised.RC and I had seen a trailer somewhere for this movie and had thought it looked ike it would be fun. I had forgotton all about it. I will pay a visit to town and see if I can root it out.
ReplyDeleteI saw this movie yesterday too, and I enjoyed it so much.
ReplyDeleteGotta love Billy Connolly and Maggie Smith. Sounds like an entertaining flick. I recognized the Roxy as belonging to Uxbridge immediately. We were just there last summer.. Uxbridge not the theatre but I enjoyed snapping a few photos of its architecture.
ReplyDeleteI loved this film. Loved all the actors in it and I truly LOVED that Dustin Hoffman chose this particular story for his Directorial debut!
ReplyDeleteIt is a "feel good" film, and I'll take one of those anytime!
Love anything with Maggie Smith in it.
ReplyDeleteThink I will have to scope this one out.
I will definitely keep my eyes open for this one, Sham, because I'm such a fan of Dustin and Maggie. I just Googled and see that Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 79%. That's good enough for me! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like I will be watching it with my wife (White Elephant). I must admit that I liked the look of it when I saw it advertised, sometimes a good case can save a weak story.
ReplyDeleteDang! I missed this when it was here because of the (pardon the xpression) effing cherry blossom festival that clogged all of DC's travel arteries. So a short trip on the metro from home to the Georgetown cinema, normally about 20 minutes, just wasn't going at all. I arrived too late to get into the movie, so my friend and i just headed for the Beehive bistro and drowned our sorrows in GRAVY. I'll see if the library has it on disk!!
ReplyDeleteThis postcard thing....is very interesting. I'll check that out, too, although I am not a very good mailer of things that have to be mailed.
cheers for spring up there!! hope it's arriving!!