Phil Davis dons his very best ‘grumpy old man’ act for this new Brit Flick about a burglar with a heart and the unpleasant pensioner whose home he breaks into.
When dim but likeable Kevin (Theo Barklem–Biggs) messes up a deal for local drug pusher (Warren Brown), he takes up burglary to earn the money has to repay. But he’s not expecting blunderbuss wielding and highly eccentric Philip (Davis) to stand up to him.
First time writer/director Jules Bishop shuns the usual cynical slant of films about British youth and instead offers an upbeat, playful story that it’s impossible not to like.
Davis delivers a barnstorming performance, enhancing Bishop’s dialogue with an almost poetic repetition of lines and an irritability which successfully masks the fact he’s about 20 years younger than the part he’s playing.
On the downside Brown’s drug pusher strays into cartoonish too often, undermining any menace the character is meant to convey and Juliet Oldfield has little to do as Kevin’s sister beyond look pained and give Bishop a chance to add a small dose of blackmail to the plot.
But these grumbles are more than made up for by the intelligent, amusing and thoroughly enjoyable plot, some great chemistry between Davis and Barklem–Biggs and the sunny, upbeat ending which will have you leaving cinemas feeling positive and chirpy about the world.
Release date: 16 August 2013