This film could not court the grey pound more aggressively if it handed out free Saga holidays with every ticket. And yet, cynical as it undoubtedly is, there is a certain creaky charm to this tale of late-life second chances and senior dance classes.
That charm is largely deployed by a game veteran cast. Headed up by Imelda Staunton as Sandra, the wife who discovers her husband’s infidelity just as she was hoping to enjoy their Ocado-delivered retirement, and Celia Imrie as Bif, her pot-smoking bohemian sister, the cast also includes Timothy Spall and a gloriously vampy Joanna Lumley. Spall and Staunton, in particular, are tremendous. Her girlish pleasure when she rediscovers her joy in dancing lights up her face from the inside; his quiet grief, as he realises that his cherished visits to his dementia-stricken wife are causing her confusion and pain, is heart-wrenching.
It’s a good-looking picture – the costumes have a pleasingly retro 50s flavour; the design of Bif’s chaotic flat speaks of a personality so exuberant it covers every available surface with happy clutter. The score, however, is a soul-crushing exercise in stating the obvious. And there is something unintentionally mortifying about the dance routines.
