Film: The Grand Seduction

Yes, yes - I actually did go out last night- just haven't had a moment to write about it till now! This was pretty much my last chance to see The Grand Seduction - at 7.3, it was the highest rated film for yesterday, but as of tomorrow, the highly rated documentaries are back and it probably wouldn't have a look-in. Autumn is upon us, eh? Anyhow, the closest place it's showing is the Odeon Panton Street - it's not widely available. So I checked to see how many Odeon points I'd saved, and was delighted to discover I had enough to get me in for free. That's two free films in a row, then..

I arrived slightly after the scheduled start time, in the middle of an ad for A Walk Among the Tombstones. So I can't testify as to how that looks - I didn't see enough. Soon enough, we were into the main feature. I was slightly dubious about seeing this, following a pretty terrible review of it in Friday's Standard, which can be best summarised as "Brendan Gleeson has a most peculiar accent, and it just isn't funny". Unfortunate, given that it's a comedy.

Well, it just goes to show that comedy is subjective. I was hooked from the start. The story is set in a little Newfoundland fishing village, starved of work and desperate to attract a new factory to the area. One of the conditions is that they have a full-time doctor, and when they see a chance to attract a young doctor to the area, they jump at it, determined to make him fall in love with the place.

The humour is quite daft, the ploys they use are plain silly, and some of the plot points are too pat. But who cares - I thought it was hilarious, with a sweet, gentle humour and some gorgeous scenery. As for Brendan Gleeson's accent - not OTT for Canada, I would've thought, although I haven't been to Newfoundland (yet). And more to the point, it didn't stand out from the accent of his (Newfoundlander) co-star. Nuts to any bad reviews - go see.

Well, I barely have time to turn around before I'm off to King Charles III at Wyndham's Theatre tonight! You might recall, I got a cheap ticket for this from a Time Out offer, since expired. We shall see what they give me.. at least it's been a cheap week so far for me!