Faintheart

I saw Faintheart on a flight from Hong Kong to Sydney and loved it so much, I watched it three times and wanted the flight to go on longer (and I loathe flying!). It was beautifully scripted, guffaw-out-loud funny and very touching at the same time. There wasn't a weak performance or an extraneous line in the entire screenplay, the hero's character development was believable and the baddies were satisfyingly vanquished. The sub-plot involving male, female (and juvenile) Trekkies was absolutely hysterical. If you liked Brassed Off, you'll love this. (Note to female EastEnders fans - you won't believe how Joe, the schizophrenic teenager whose barmaid mum had an affair with Phil Mitchell, has grown up (Paul Nicholls)!)

Faintheart (the character) is a Viking reenactor (as opposed to a Bravehearted Scot) who, despite having married and sired a son already in middle school, has never quite matured enough to be able to separate his real and fantasy lives. As a consequence, his wife has separated from him; and the film concerns his search for a pathway back into her heart. (Hey, "Richard", what's with the eyeliner?)

As the first Yank to review this film, it's not clear to me why, at a key re-enactment, the audience would cheer for the Vikings over the Normans, unless the Vikings were merely the "home team" at the site of the event, or unless the Brits, after nearly a millennium, still resent the Norman invasion. (Historically, the Vikings launched raids on England, but it took the Vikings who had settled Normandy to later conquer England. According to geneticists, however, due to DNA similarities across sources, the percentage of today's population with Norman blood is indeterminate.)

Faintheart (the movie) is an unusual setting for the standard RomCom. The execution is well-done, but unexceptional. The acting is good all around, but one is continually impressed with the juvenile leads. Faintheart's son, Martin (Joseph Hamilton, in his first credited film here), looks like a reincarnated teenage Jodie Foster, with the covered-left-eye haircut. Martin's girlfriend, Emily, is played by Chloe Hesar, an accomplished TV actress, apparently appearing in her first big screen effort.

Faintheart is recommended for an easy-going one hundred or so minutes of undemanding entertainment.

I would agree that Faintheart mines a subject matter with rich pickings for parody, but I would stop short at saying that it does so particularly well. Some of the gags are sweet, and the whole ethos of the film is well intentioned, but it is at the end a very predictable romantic comedy with a plot that has been retrodden way too many times. The acting is good, although no real demands are made on any of the actors to show off what they are undoubtedly capable of, and the direction and camera work is also fine, but there is nothing really standout about this film. I wouldn't exactly avoid it, but I certainly haven't gained anything by seeing it either.

I have read a lot of negative reviews about this film but some people are just hard to please I devied much pleasure for a film made on a modest budget so I consider it excellent value I watched at home on lock down with both my ankles giving me scyatica pain and it was pleasureable enough to forget that pain

I saw the premiere of this film last night at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was absolutely brilliant! If you like British films where the underdog makes you go "aww..." then see this film, you won't be disappointed. The young lad who plays the son of the hero of the piece is a brilliant young actor, the fact that I can't recall his name is no reflection on how good he was (I'm just really bad at remembering names). Ewen Bremner was excellent, as usual...as was Jessica Hynes. The film is also memorable for a selection of the crappiest looking cars you'll have seen in a while. The hero's C-reg Volvo estate car is just fantastic. And as for the soundtrack...I'd forgotten how much I used to like Saxon. Support the British film industry, when they produce wee gems like this it would be rude not to.