Lucky Break

It was probably made to capitalize on the well-deserved success of the "Full Monty" :both films have a lot in common ;proles / prisoners setting a show up.

The major drawback is Christopher Plummer's part :it's really underwritten and the scenarists obviously favored James Nesbitt's role.Too bad for the "show " sequences are the best in the whole film but we do not laugh enough.Lord Nelson's and "that" Lady Hamilton's song is deliciously stupid and provides a great moment of fun.The inmates ironically singing "we're going home" is a hilarious scene too.

But it seems that the director could not make up his mind :he hesitates between comedy and drama:the sadistic warden is a cliché ,as old as the hills in what is finally a prison movie.

Watchable but the screenplay was not fully exploited.

LUCKY BREAK is Peter Cattaneo's follow-up to his hugely successful 1997 comedy THE FULL MONTY, which I thought was great. Unfortunately his second stint behind the camera isn't half as successful. The main problem with this comedy is simple: it's not funny enough. Yes, there's a few chuckles but my sides definitely weren't split... they weren't even creased.

James Nesbitt, from TV's Cold Feet (in the UK), is full of cheeky Irish charm but I didn't think he cut it as a leading man. He's great on TV, but he lacked something on the big screen. The love interest is provided by the lovely Olivia Williams, who plays the same same sort of role she's done before, and is fine again here. Christopher Plummer plays the Prison's Governor and it's always good to see him even if the film's not that great. The rest of the inmates were pretty good, with Bill Nighy's scene-stealing poncey Roger as the standout.

Storywise it hit all the right notes but, as I'd said, wasn't nearly funny enough. There are echoes of MONTY throughout but the production put on by the inmates at the end of the film didn't work nearly as well as the MONTY finale. So, overall I'd say it was a bit of a disappointment, which is a bit of a shame.

Repeat-offender Jimmy (James Nesbitt) finds himself doing time after a botched bank job. When the prison warden (Christopher Plummer), an aspiring playwright, proposes that the prison put on a production of his musical, Jimmy and his fellow inmates plan to use the performance as a diversion while they make a get away. Things get complicated, however, when Jimmy falls for the prison's psychologist, Annabel (Olivia Williams). This entertaining black comedy carries some good acting and a marvelously understated sense of humor. The warden's musical, based on the swashbuckling life of Viscount Horatio Nelson, is about as lavish as an elementary school production, and wonderfully dreadful to boot. Although a bit slow at times, patient viewers will find themselves rewarded.

I don't know, maybe I'm the only person in the world who didn't enjoy The Full Monty. Perhaps there's something wrong with me, but I hated it. So when I was dragged into the cinema to see this follow-up by the same director, I went kicking and screaming. True, I knew absolutely nothing about the film, had not seen a review and sure, it starred the always funny James "Cold Feet" Nesbitt and the delectable Olivia "Rushmore" Williams, but I was determined to loathe every agonising moment.

A few minutes in, a funny things started to happen. Something odd was happening in my throat and in my chest. That sensation in my chest... that strange feeling... What was it? No, I wasn't bringing up bile. It wasn't pain; It was... it was... No, it couldn't be. It was laughter! Yes, I was laughing. The film was funny and entertaining and charming and the corny, feel good ending left me with a warn glow.

Eewwww...

The kind of film that does get much of a reaction from you. Some Ok laughs, some ,mildly touching moment and one very sad moment that worked so well thanks to Tim Spall's excellent performance. The acting was very good,the plot was fine, but the script lacked a little sparkle.