Monday, 22 September 2014

What We Did On Our Holiday - review

A family featuring exasperated adults and smart mouth children conjugates on a Highlands residence for a patriarchal birthday celebration where all sorts of secrets come tumbling out of the closet.

That's right. Welcome to Outnumbered meets Festen!

The tone of this comedy-drama lurches too quickly between farce and melodrama meaning that many of the film's more emotional and dramatic beats are lost in favour of a cheap gag, resulting in a rather uneven mess.

That being said the performances are good (particularly Connelly) with a strong family dynamic existing between the actors and there are many gags which do hit the mark.

Plus there is the sight of David Tennant rushing down a beach in search of a potential crime scene that makes one imagine just for a second that this could become Broadchurch 2: Broaderchurch.

It feels more like a Sunday night BBC hour long special than a feature film but in all its just a harmless bit of fun revolving around secrets, lies and arguments. Which kind of sums up every family holiday doesn't it?

3 stars

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