A Bump Along the Way

It's a lovely movie, very good actors and enjoyable to watch.

Forty something single mum discovers she is pregnant to the mortification of her teenage daughter. That's the plot. Sounds basic and it is but it's still a charming watch. Bronagh Gallagher is fantastic and just owns the screen whenever she appears on it with her lovely warm presence. Lola Pettigrew as the daughter plays it just right and even the usually annoying Paddy Courtney provides nice support. Not the most cinematic of movies and probably belongs on TV but a likeable cast lives a slight plot and you'll leave the cinema Happy but guaranteed you won't remember this movie in a years time.

When flighty fortysomething Pamela (Bronagh Gallagher) falls pregnant after a drunken one-nighter, her already fractious relationship with teenage daughter Allegra (Lola Petticrew) comes under further strain. Might this finally be the wake-up call she needs? Will the frost between mother and daughter begin to thaw? The answers aren't hard to guess in a predictable comedydrama that's a little short on big laughs. Yet it's convincingly played by its two terrific leads, while the barbed arguments carry enough sting that its soft-centred conclusion, contrived as it is, feels well earned.

The confusion of adolescence, the haze of being and the miracle of life.

You could argue it's all been said before and in the next breath say it can never be said too often. There are no surprises here - but there is the resilience to, not only survive but to, find the golden nuggets so often deeply hidden.

A bump along the way requires curiosity, and possibly empathy, from the viewer - but since when was that a bad thing?

Okay, the message is this. Men are selfish scum. The best characters in this film is actually in a supporting role. The friend of the mother and the bakery co-worker. Anyway, the teenager, while pretty, just runs too hot and cold for credibility. She's sweet as honey to her Mom at one point then vile, cruel and vindictive the next. Teenagers are like that, but you'll take my meaning if you sit through this. It's this kind of tripe that sabotages this film throughout. The school bully is a bit over the top. The teacher is a joke, too. But still it's enjoyable in parts, minus the predictable sappy ending. The main character, the mom, is played quite well and she had my sympathy for having raised such a snot of a girl. I dunno man. It just kind of left me cold. Was expecting so much more from this. Try The Snapper. It's a much more clever and competently produces movie, although in that one it's the daughter that's preggers.