Predictable Wives still delights
Military Wives (M, 112 mins) Directed by Peter Cattaneo Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett
It’s too easy, as a reviewer, to fall into the trap of disliking a film just because it’s a little predictable and formulaic. When you regularly see four or five movies a week, including pretty much every mainstream release, it’s hard sometimes not to get a little over-excited at anything that doesn’t stay inside the lines and follow the accepted beats of whatever genre it is frolicking in.
And also to not unleash all manner of obnoxious brattery at anything that does play by the rules and then delivers exactly what the trailer promises.
And, just like me, you know exactly what’s going to happen in the beginning, the middle and at the end of Military Wives.
You know because you have already seen The Full Monty, Brassed Off, Calendar Girls and every other likeable Pomgolian seat-filler about a disparate group of misfits who overcome personality clashes from within and cynicism from without, to eventually triumph when it counts.
So, is the utter predictability of a film like Military Wives an issue? Nah. Not really. Years ago, I might have sneered my way through every second of it, sitting as I was, among the sort of contented and well-heeled crew who usually turn up to attend midweek, daytime sessions at boutique, little innercity cinemas.
But these days, I’m more likely to just appreciate a film like Military Wives for what it is: A wellenough made dramedy with just enough bite in its backend to stir something that actually felt like an honest emotional response.
Do I need to tell you Kristin Scott Thomas is exceptionally good as the frosty and embittered ‘‘wife’’ Kate, who first seizes on the idea of starting a choir to raise the morale of the wives of a regiment of soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan?
Or that Sharon Horgan is even better as Lisa, the popular one, who Kate will need to work alongside to realise her dream?
Or that the support cast are reliably – mostly – great, the edit is a little indulgent, or that a couple of key scenes do resonate with some real, well-written and portrayed grief and loss?
Do we need to mention that director Peter Cattaneo (who also directed The Full Monty) does an efficient enough job of getting the story told, even if he is clearly framing his shots for an audience more likely to be watching Military Wives on a TV or laptop screen, than at a cinema? Nope.
I don’t need to tell you any of those things because you have seen the trailer so you know exactly the film that Military Wives is. All I have to do is assure you that if you’re thinking Military Wives looks like a film you would enjoy, then I reckon you’re probably right. You will. As I kind of did.