Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Overlooked Movies: What We Did on Our Holiday (2014)



I’d never heard of WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY, a British comedy from 2014, but it has the great Scottish comic Billy Connolly in it, plus David Tennant and Rosamund Pike, and I like both of them, so why not? Turns out it’s a pretty good film, and the three child actors playing their kids steal the movie with some fine performances.

The premise is that Tennant, Pike, and their kids travel to Scotland to celebrate the 75th birthday of Tennant’s father (played by Connolly, of course). Tennant and Pike are getting a divorce, but they’ve instructed the kids not to say anything about that because Connolly’s character is dying of cancer and they don’t want to ruin what will be his last birthday. Other family members have personal problems of their own. Doesn’t sound like a setup for a comedy, but it kind of is, thanks to some sharp dialogue and those child actors I mentioned. It’s also sad and touching without being mawkish, has some great scenery, and the ending works very well. This isn’t the sort of movie I watch very often, but I’m glad we took a chance on it.

1 comment:

Matthew Clark said...

So, we have Doctor Who meets Lady Penelope!