Calendar Girls

I've been getting a little tired of the computer-enhanced extravaganzas that have been flung at viewers over the past few years. You know what I'm talking about--the movies that are short on plot, acting or both which are bolstered up by loud FX and revolutionary digital animation so that it becomes "special effects in search of a picture". I'm delighted to say that CALENDAR GIRLS has nothing of the kind. It's all about the plot, all about the women involved, and all about laughing so hard you cry--or maybe about being able to forget tears in deep laughter, if only for a moment.

The acting is superb. One hardly needs to mention Helen Mirren. I read one comment that pans her Yorkshire accent; well, I attended it with an Englishwoman who is very familiar with such an accent and she specifically told me that her accent never slipped, so I've no idea where that comment came from.

Having been involved with the world of cancer treatment recently (fortunately with a happier outcome for my mother, a survivor of breast cancer) this movie strikes close to home. It's completely accurate; it's not pretty and it's often degrading, no matter how much the oncological staff tries to make it easier. The movie is also accurate in the kind of sentiments it expresses about cancer. People who have been touched by that filthy disease will do ANYTHING to fight it. (I sat on a spin bike for twenty-four consecutive hours in aid of breast cancer less than two weeks ago, so I do know what I'm talking about.) Yes, a few liberties with the real story have been taken. So what? The result is a coherent progression that is more interested in human beings than plot details. And isn't that what it should be about?

I've heard this dismissed as a movie for "older people". I'm proud to be of that number--after all, at the age of thirty-five I'm ten years out of the target demographic at which Hollywood films are aimed. If by "older people" they mean people who want a movie to be about something important as opposed to the latest spectacular light show, I'm glad to be of that number. I'd recommend this to anyone who's interested in a movie that is both hysterically funny and deeply touching. It has re-inspired me in the battle against cancer, and if it does that to anyone else, it will have made a worthwhile difference.

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Nigel Cole delivers a charming, touching, funny story with a message. Based on the true story of a few society women in England who decide to do a quasi-nude calendar to raise money for a cancer center. The well-known story itself holds few surprises, but the cast is so wonderful and the dialogue so crisp that one can't help but enjoy the film. Helen Mirren ("Gosford Park") and Julie Walters ("Educating Rita") lead the mostly female cast who bare it all ... sort of. As much as I liked the film, I do believe the two leads should have flipped roles to make this even more effective. Also, the pacing is true British, as many of the lines are missed due to U.S. audience out-loud laughter. Be forewarned if you see it in a full theatre ... you will miss a few lines. A wonderful movie for all ages and both sexes!

I did not expect to enjoy this movie; from the few descriptions I'd seen I thought it would be a string of silly gags about nudity. I could not have been more wrong. The story involves some normal, believable characters dealing with grief and with the habitual narrowness of their lives in a creative way. I liked them and believed in them. At times some of the characters seem a bit to good to be true, but far more often I found myself thinking "yes, I know people like that." Their flaws and errors of judgment are handled well. When I first saw this movie I was totally unaware that it was based on a true story; that fact just put the cap on it. There's a little bit of saccharine, but a lot more unfiltered honey.

One of the most delightful films of recent years, `Calendar Girls,' a distaff version of `The Full Monty,' is the true story of a group of middle-aged English women who became international celebrities when they designed and posed for a nude fundraising calendar that sold millions of copies worldwide. Julie Walters and Helen Mirren head a wonderful cast, with Walters as a woman whose husband dies of leukemia and Mirren as her best friend who comes up with the idea of the calendar as a way of both honoring his memory and raising money for the local hospital.

The risk for any `feel good' comedy is that it will become cloying, coy or cutesy. Luckily, `Calendar Girls' boasts an enormously witty screenplay and first-rate performances by its highly gifted cast. Each of the `girls' is given her own unique personality so that we see them not just as a group, united in this inspiring endeavor, but as individuals working through their own personal demons on the rode to the project's completion. The women face the expected roadblocks and snafus in the form of `shocked,' disapproving voices in the community, but their belief in the rightness of their cause brushes all such problems aside.

This charming film provides more genuine, out-and-out laughs than almost any comedy of recent times. `Calendar Girls' is heartwarming, touching and inspiring – and what more could one ask from a `feel-good' film than that?

Based on a true story, eleven members of a women's institute group decide to pose nude for a rather untraditional annual calendar to raise money for charity.

With an all star cast lead by Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, we go on a journey through the ridicule and resistance that the ladies had to endure to achieve this amazing feat, which ultimately raised millions.

Calendar Girls is brilliantly performed and directed, and it has many heart wrenching tales that lie beneath the main story, each pertaining to the girls own reasons and drives to fight for what eventually became a mammoth success.

Heart Warming, Funny, Charming and Entertaining, undoubtedly a winner on every level.

8/10