Greatest Days

I would never review a movie I've not watched all the way through but my gosh this is a car crash of epic proportions. The cliched dance routines, how cheap it looks, the simply horrendous decision to cast this rather odd looking collection of boys to represent Take That. During the first musical number, Pray, you'll probably burst out laughing when the boys appear out of kitchen cupboards in the midst of a shouting match between two parents. Could it be magic is more could it be tragic, set during a market with various stall holders singing the lines until the boys pop out from behind WH Smith's to join in. Yes the movie clearly wants to say something important our childhood friends and the lead actress has plenty of energy and screen presence but it's all been done better before. After 25 minutes I'd suffered enough.

I didn't especially like the truly sterile stage musical and sadly I can't really exude about this either. It all centres around four ladies who win a competition to go and see a Take That reunion concert. The girls have become estranged over the years, but this prize offers them a chance to reunite. Initially it all goes fine - each has gone on to varying degrees of success and happiness in adult life - but after a few largely predictable escapades the fault lines soon start to appear and the inevitable tragedy from their past rears it's ugly head to contextualise their drifting apart and their present, somewhat strained, relationship. The songs themselves were never my favourite either - I always found Gary Barlow's voice to be a bit nasal and toneless - and here they are performed to some extremely precise (and not very natural) choreography by five lads who resemble the original band not a jot. Die hard fans will probably love this, and it does remind you of just how many hits this band had in their relatively short career - but for me, this film was all just a bit too formulaic with an ending that reminded me of the far superior ensemble effort that was Leslie Bricusse's "Scrooge" (1970).

Greatest Days is a new music, drama, comedy directed by Coky Giedroyc. She has further directed more various TV series episodes and miniseries and TV movies.

Five friends used to have the best night of their lives when they went to the concert of their favorite boy band together. Over the years, however, the five have lost contact with each other, so that their mutual bond has become less.

When one of them wins tickets to the reunion concert of their former favorite Boyband, she tries to get the five back together to relive the best moment of their past with this concert.

The people behind this film tried to get production from a large film studio for this film, so that they could then also cast well-known actors. Unfortunately, none of the major film studios showed interest in the project. For example, the people behind this film project had to manage the financial affairs more themselves, which meant that they had to simplify some things and drop other ideas. The Boyband Take That, for example, where it is about in the film, and the band members are not mentioned by name, to save costs and legal problems.

Still, the film may seem familiar to fans of Take That or other bands or singers. The film responds so well to how Boyband or other artist groups used to and still manage to attract fans with their music and styles. Fans of past or modern artist groups can relate to how the movie characters behave because of their fandom they have with the particular Boyband in the movie.

Thanks to the lower budget, the cast members of this film are also more TV actors, but fortunately they still come across as friends and fans of the same Boyband. The film only starts more in the past, where the characters were still young. If they suddenly make a time jump later in the film after the now, where the same characters are suddenly older, it can take some getting used to because of how the characters have changed.

I don't know why as I'm not even particularly a Take That fan, but I actually had high hopes for this film. I wasn't expecting it to reach the heights of Mama Mia!, but I thought it might be at least in the same league. Unfortunately it's just painfully derivative and formulaic, with songs being butchered left right and centre.

The characters are all pretty uninteresting and the acting leaves a lot to be desired. The action is split across two time periods and I will say the younger actors killed it, which is why I'm giving the film at least some stars. It should have put far more focus here.

The story is far too formulaic. Everything that happens is predictable and isn't overly interesting either. The film also just lacked any sort of middle to it. There was far too much set up and barely any plot in the middle or end of the whole thing.

When the film does go for it and embraces its campness and ludicrousness there are glimpses of what it could have been, but it just tries to be too earnest and emotional. None of this stuff lands, which just bogs the whole thing down.

I'm sure there's an audience out there and this film will appeal to many, but it didn't hit the spot for me.

I'm not the world's greatest Take That fan but even them I'm familiar enough with some of their songs to have enjoyed this moderately budgeted but fun if cheesey juke box musical.l based on the stage musical of the same name.

The plot follows a gang of teenage girls and how their friendship is tested over a quarter of a century, with the music of Take That (here just referred to as 'The Boys') becoming almost the only thing holding them together. When one wins tickets to see The Boys at a reunion concert in Greece she has to awkwardly contact her old friends who she hasn't seen for years to ask them to go. Old wounds are opened and arguments happen as they find their friendship tested, all the while dealing with the shadow of a tragedy from years ago.

The film isn't exactly deep but the acting is fine (comedienne Aisling Bea being surprisingly good). Obviously the music is the real draw and it's used well enough although the hit song song 'Shine' is wasted in the film and really should have been used for the finale.

The product placement for easyJet grates a bit but is probably a result of the production budget and small scale of the film. However if you can overlook this then this is a harmless if predictable film that won't change your world but might bring a smile to your face.