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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Film Review: What We Did On Our Holiday
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Film Review: What We Did On Our Holiday

A film about three children meeting their dying grandfather for the last time plays out like an extended sitcom episode

A still from What We Did On Our HolidayPremium
A still from What We Did On Our Holiday

What We Did On Our Holiday is engineered for maximum emotional impact. What’s more, it’s shameless about its shamelessness. We’re pretty much told in the first few minutes that we’re going to be watching a film about three sitcom-cute children meeting their dying grandfather for the last time. The grandfather in question is Billy Connolly, the veteran comic and actor who was diagnosed with cancer and Parkinson’s last year.

The directors, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, are the creators of the UK TV series Outnumbered, which became known for giving child actors the freedom to improvise their dialogue. Though the film is only loosely inspired by the series, whose cast has made way for better-known actors (David Tennant and Rosamund Pike play the parents), it nevertheless plays out like an extended sitcom episode. If it doesn’t end up as manipulative as it ought to be, it’s largely due to the efforts of Connolly, who has both the appearance and the feistiness of a billy goat. He plays especially well with the three children, who probably see in him a kindred spirit.

It also helps that the second half is surprisingly frank and unsentimental in its treatment of death, depression and divorce. In a film that spends a good deal of time talking about the Vikings, laughter, fittingly, becomes a shield.

What We Did On Our Holiday released in theatres on Friday.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Uday Bhatia
Uday Bhatia is an assistant editor and film critic at Mint Lounge based in New Delhi. He also oversees the 'How To Lounge'/Culture section.
Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
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Published: 08 Jun 2015, 04:29 PM IST
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