Golden Years (M)

Retirement has not been kind to Arthur Goode’s (Bernard Hill) family or friends.

The former Bristol ballroom dancing champion’s wife, Martha (Virginia McKenna), suffers from Crohn’s Disease, while the local rest home seem more concerned about calorific intake than any kind of humane care.

Then comes a devastating double blow for the community. First, they discover all their pension ‘‘pots’’ have been seriously depleted by the bank’s investment in an electronics company, then it’s announced that their beloved Argyle Bowling Club’s land is for sale.

They will either have to buy it, or risk it being turned into real estate. As he plots ways to solve their financial plight, an opportunity falls into Arthur’s lap and he finds himself in possession of £50,000. Fans of TV shows like New Tricks and movies like

Waking Ned Devine and Saving Grace will lap up the oldies-behaving-badly and slapstick farce of this amiable British comedy.

Director John Miller keeps the antics and action coming thick and fast, while experienced heads like Hill (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), McKenna (Born Free), Phil Davis (Poldark),

Simon Callow (Four Wedding and a Funeral) and Mark

Williams (Father Brown )do their best to flesh out their law and logic-defying characters. –