City Slacker

It's rare in a "rom com" to have a leading lady who does not try to look at least 20 years younger than she really is! It is rarer still these days to find a film where the central character is a lady of a "certain age". Fiona Gillies pulls this off with enormous aplomb. This film delivers class acting with a well written and observed screen play. London is depicted as a working city which most of us recognise, rather than the "tourist" version we mostly see in other movies.

Although at times our credibility was somewhat stretched, the film carried us with it and was a thoroughly enjoyable. The soundtrack was particularly good. Look out for the scene in the park where Amanda tries to impress Dan and gets into a tangle! Pure comedy.

This is a low budget British Rom Com starring Fiona Gillies as a corporate high flier in her 40s who has to find a suitable man to impregnate her and raise the child.

The situation is accelerated as her frozen eggs were destroyed when the clinic storing it caught fire, her boyfriend of many years (Adrian Lukis) has no interest in wanting kids with her and she wants in effect a house husband.

Things are complicated when she meets Geoffrey Streatfield in a park and they seem to hit it off and at the same time her father (Tom Conti) moves in with her. By losing her focus on her job she finds that she might be a victim of some corporate shenanigans.

The film is also produced by Gillies and written by her husband Michael Muller. So its a labour of love for these two and it is nice to see Gillies having a starring role when in the late 1980s and early 90s she looked like she might become a major television star.

The film is likable, it has managed to get a good original songs and soundtrack and it is refreshing to find a British rom com where they do not match a big British star with an American star. However despite some comedy, low key romance and corporate adventures it does look more like a nice television movie, watchable which happily passes the time. All the actors are clearly putting a lot of effort in the film which is to be commended.

There was something American in the plot. A baseball bat. Where is the cricket bat. I think that's more suitable in a British film.