Lucky Break
Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which he can probably escape. He convinces the governor to stage a musical in an old chapel next to the prison's outer wall. He rounds up volunteer actors and puts his escape plan into production. Two other barriers, besides the wall, confront him: the arrival of a nasty inmate, John Toombes, who insists on joining the escape, and Jimmy's feelings of attraction for Anabel, a social worker who agrees to appear in the play. Opening night approaches: is this Jimmy's breakout performance?
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- Cast：
- James Nesbitt , Olivia Williams , Timothy Spall , Christopher Plummer , Bill Nighy , Lennie James , Ron Cook
Reviews
I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Highly Overrated But Still Good
It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
It was probably made to capitalize on the well-deserved success of the "Full Monty" :both films have a lot in common ;proles / prisoners setting a show up.The major drawback is Christopher Plummer's part :it's really underwritten and the scenarists obviously favored James Nesbitt's role.Too bad for the "show " sequences are the best in the whole film but we do not laugh enough.Lord Nelson's and "that" Lady Hamilton's song is deliciously stupid and provides a great moment of fun.The inmates ironically singing "we're going home" is a hilarious scene too.But it seems that the director could not make up his mind :he hesitates between comedy and drama:the sadistic warden is a cliché ,as old as the hills in what is finally a prison movie.Watchable but the screenplay was not fully exploited.
Please stop comparing this film to The Full Monty. The comparison is irrelevant. It is not, and never intends to be, a sequel to Monty.Please do have a look at this film as it is, actually, very good, with some well observed and interesting performances. Some reviews on here give the impression the film is unfunny. Not so. It works well as a light comedy/romance.Worth seeing too as an example of good British cinema. I wonder what Hollywood would have done with the script..? (On second thought... Let's not go there).Well done (again) Film Four.
This film was just released on video and I was glad to see it, since it had come and gone thru the cinemas rather quickly.If you are looking for a breezy, lighthearted comedy in the style of the Full Monty (i.e. quirky, amusing British characters) then this is the film for you. It is not a film that will have you rolling on the floor but then I don't believe every comedy has to be that. Just to smile and chuckle at the plot is enough for me. I found the best laughs came from the musical NELSON and the clever song lyrics (which were penned by Stephen Fry).I thought James Nesbitt made a wonderful lead and was just as appealing here as in Cold Feet. The romance between him and Olivia Williams was entirely believable - especially as he was such a petty criminal. And the end credits were quite heartwarming and thoroughly satisfying.If you liked Full Monty and Waking Ned, then you'll love this film - a quirky character film as only the British can do.
Hard to believe that this is from the team that brought us 'The Full Monty', it is embarrassing to think that this may be seen outside of England. Monotonously paced, it never gets out of first gear and there is scarcely a funny line during the entire film, let alone an original one.
