Girls AWOL in war-ble zone
FULL MONTY GURU ON SONG AGAIN WITH SUREFIRE ATTEN-SHUN GRABBER
IT was the film that put Hot Chocolate back in the charts, put Prince Charles on the dole (if only for a photo opportunity) and sparked a mini-golden age for British comedy.
When Peter Cattaneo’s low-budget drama about a gang of saggy-arsed Sheffield strippers became an unlikely global hit, Hollywood dollars began to flow as producers cast their nets for “the next Full Monty”.
The first batch of copycat flicks featuring Brits with unlikely hobbies were pretty good.
Billy Elliot (working-class boy learns ballet), Calendar Girls (prim ladies go nude modelling) and Kinky Boots (shoe salesman discovers the drag scene) were all box office hits that went on to have second lives on stage.
But over the past decade, the ideas have begun to dry up.
When a gang of seasoned British actors formed an all-male amateur synchronised swimming team in 2018’s Swimming With Men, an already low watermark had been breached.
But now Cattaneo is back with another belter. Military Wives may march to some very familiar beats, but it should banish all memories of Rob Brydon in budgie smugglers.
Fans of TV choirmaster Gareth Malone will know all about the Military Wives – a group of soldiers’ spouses who packed up their troubles and took up harmonised singing.
This funny, big-hearted tear-jerker takes us to an English military base to tell their origins story.
When the servicemen and women leave for a six-month tour of Helmand province in Afghanistan, someone needs to organise morale-boosting activities for the women they left behind.
As the wife of the newly promoted Regimental Sergeant
Major, this honour falls to a reluctant Lisa (Sharon Horgan), a boozy mum who is struggling to raise her mouthy teenage daughter Frankie (India Ria Amarteifio).
Her first idea is to form a knitting/drinking club, but when that unravels she unpacks her old synthesiser and dishes out song sheets.
This piques the interest of tweedy Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas).
As the wife of the highest ranking officer (Greg Wise’s colonel), she’s supposed to stand apart from the rabble.
But Kate, who is mourning her soldier son, needs a distraction too. “Can we hear the Ts, please. Enunciate!” she cries, as the women murder Shout by Tears For Fears. As is often the case, the two leads are opposites who gradually find some common ground.
The bickering choirmasters are a great double act, but Cattaneo also gives them space to develop three-dimensional characters.
The minor players have their moments in the spotlight, too.
Amy James-Kelly, who plays newlywed Sarah, has a beautifully written scene with Scott Thomas.
Gaby French makes us root for nervous Welsh songbird Jess, and Lara Rossi raises laughs as tone-deaf hairdresser Ruby.
When Jason Flemyng’s sergeant, inset left, earns them a spot at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, the film has its ticking clock.
Will the ladies overcome their differences in time for the big finale? It’s predictable but utterly irresistible.
Succumb to its charms and you’ll leave the film with a song in your heart and a spring in your step.