Jilting Joe

Geraldine Somerville is like a fish out of water in this one - I remember she was great in the TV series 'Cracker' for a couple of years, but this film really doesn't suit her at all.

It starts with a ridiculous set-piece played to "The Look of Love" - which almost had me turning off straight away. Then it rumbled on for a bit longer, she jilts Joe......"10 years later"......a car park designer. The interesting thing for me though was that her "running into" her former fiancée after all that time isn't as coincidental as some plot summaries may make out - seeing as her mother is going out with his father.

We get a bit of conflict between the two, some repressed and uptight guff, a Spanish woman, a tombola, a burned down gazebo, a talking sheep with a scouse accent, another wedding and some more "A Look of Love". And hey presto, that's it.

It's really not worth the time or the effort. The good thing is that it doesn't out-stay it's welcome, only being 80 minutes long.

Okay, it's not the best film in the world, and it is true that Olivia is one of the most whiny, God-awful, self-obsessed characters ever created, but I think that's a lot to do with the actress playing her rather than the character itself. Taken on it's own it is a very sweet film, and James Purefoy is just so absolutely gorgeous that it is worth watching the film just to see the moment when his little heart breaks when she leaves him at the alter. I defy any woman in the world not to want to give him a cuddle and tell him it will be alright! If you go into it expecting Citizen Kane or It Happened One Night then of course you are going to be disappointed, but if you happen to see it one one evening late at night on BBC1 when you can't sleep then it's a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes.

Joe and Olivia grew up in different parts of the same house and it was perhaps inevitable that they would marry as childhood sweethearts. So in their late teens/early twenties they go for it in a wonderful church wedding. Sadly on the very morning Olivia's mother's fourth husband leaves her, bring her biological father back to walk her up the aisle. His rather bitter view of marriage hits home and Olivia flees the church in fear of being left within a short time. Ten years later Olivia is a successful career woman with no interest in love. A trip to her mother's house for the weekend though sees her meeting Joe and his new wife, who are staying with his father in the other side of the house.

In 2007 the BBC ran a season of British films which included many good British films that I had never seen or even heard of. Although the quality was varied mostly it was a good season and with some of them (eg A Way of Life) I took it as affirmation that there is plenty of talent out there and maybe the British film industry is not as doomed as we regularly are told it is. With this film though I was reminded why such articles and worries are common because although we have strong output, the high points are not enough to eclipse such drek as this film. Jilting Joe starts with a terribly cheap title sequence which gets by on the strength of the music more than anything else then from there trudges through a load of clichés that are "freshened up" by having them made as unconvincing and uninteresting as possible.

The script has no real charm and the characters are nowhere to be found in real life, making the story totally bland and banal. Orde-Powlett's script seems mostly to blame but Zeff's delivery is also poor and he seems unable to do anything of value here. With all this supporting them, it is no surprise that the cast can do nothing but few help themselves much either. Purefoy is poor and both he and Somerville are unconvincing as individuals and together – the only thing they made me believe was that they were annoying to the point of needing a slap. Wilkinson is sturdy as a presence but brings out little with his character while cameos from Bates and Lucas offer very little.

Overall then this is a very bland and banal romantic comedy that takes a contrived collection of situations and scenarios and puts in almost no effort to make it work.

Not even bad enough to be jaw-dropping in its awfulness; this is the sort of film that makes me embarrassed to be British. Every single facet of plot and characterisation seems deliberately intended to set teeth on edge and incite the audience to hurl anything handy at the screen Ghastliest of these is the central character, Olivia, who spends the entire film trying to pretend she's not still in love with the man she jilted ten years previously; all the while going on in the sort of supposedly quirky manner seemingly beloved of some female romantic 'comedy' writers and universally loathed by every man on the planet.

As the film finally creaked to a close, Olivia's witterings in the final scene got on my nerves so much that it was all I could do not to run screaming into the street and start warning random strangers not to ever, ever waste even a moment on this monumental pile of tat.

If anyone attempts to induce you to watch this film, slap them immediately. It'll be a favour to you both.

-10 / 10

Having seen this made for TV movie twice now, I can say that if all you're looking for is a bit of romantic escapism, with some humour thrown in, then this is the film for you.

(Not sure this is a spoiler as such, but better to be safe) it's actually quite funny in places, especially the way Jo and Olivia argue so much rather than admit they both still care. The way Joe goes about trying to obtain his revenge also raises a smile, as who of us haven't wanted to get revenge on an ex who dumped us?

All in all I think this film is worthy of an 8 mainly for the two main leads of James Purefoy and Geraldine Somerville as Jo and Olivia, they really made their characters believable - even if I did want to punch them both for being so pig-headedly stupid (though mainly Olivia). However, Patricia Hodge and Benjamin Whitrow are also brilliant as the long suffering parents of Olivia and Jo respectively.

The scenes that made the film for me was the pet tent at the village fête - won't say more but God did I laugh, and James Purefoy in the opening credits; the man should get a medal not only for the singing, but the suit itself.......something a corpse would only wear for a bet,even back in the 80's.

The only jarring characters I felt were Olivia's friend Lucy and Jo's friend Mick. Their sub-plot was nothing but annoying; there is no real resolution to it, so you do wonder why the writers bothered with it. There was enough going on with the main storyline and other sub-plot that it could easily have been left out without being missed.

A film for all of us that have made fools of ourselves for love only to lose the object of our affection; and a feel good movie for a wet winter's night in front of a warm TV - especially if you're recently dumped and planning revenge!