Finding Your Feet (dir. Richard Loncraine)

In in the interest of transparency, I am English, and perhaps therefore I am predisposed to like Richard Loncraine’s quirky British rom/com “Finding Your Feet”, even more so as I have recently ventured to a new residence across the pond, and find myself missing the hoity-toity goings-on off the English public.

But homesickness aside, it’s the lovable ensemble cast which turns this innocuous British comedy into something much more engaging than it ever had the right to be - and even it’s underlying message about love and its perceived age-limits is wholly imaginative, also.

Cinematic offerings with an eye on the “golden years” demographic have been met with critical and financial success of late; “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “45 Years” and even “Hampstead” being perfect examples of this. And thankfully, if that’s your preferred type of Friday night entertainment, there’s nothing here that won’t give you the odd chuckle and a life-affirming spring in your step upon exiting the cinema. Even if Richard Curtis is the real connoisseur of this fair - and Loncraine’s comedy is nowhere near as subversive as Curtis 90s works - as someone in their late twenties, “Finding Your Feet’ warmed me up from the very beginning - and it has it’s terrific cast to thank for this.

Enter the Brits. We begin with middle-class “toff” Sandra (Imelda Staunton) standing idly by her recently retired husband of the last 35 years, Mike (John Sessions). Life is going well for all those involved, and they appear to be a couple in their early 60’s enjoying the prime of their lives. Cut to Mike smooching Sandra’s best friend, Pamela (Josie Lawrence) in the coat closet, thus outing their tawdry five-year long affair. Sandra packs her bags, and heads for the only place she knows - that of her weed-smoking, hippy and down-at-heel sister Biff (Celia Imrie), with whom she has been estranged for six years.

First they bicker, than they reconcile. Before long, Sandra’s part of Biff’s weekly dancing class - partly to reignite her childhood dream of being on the stage, but also to catch the eye of fellow old-timer Charlie (Timothy Spall) - who’s wife has been hospitalized with Alzheimers and is all but forgotten his existence. Most of the charm therein comes from the experienced cast navigating the trials and tribulations of later life. For the incomparable Staunton- who treats every one of her lines as if the final part of a Shakespearean soliloquiy -her presence in the film is not unlike a “fish-out-of-water”, and the real comedy comes from her uptight, snot-snosed smugness and sheer inability to comprehend a life not surrounded by excess. Imrie also is perfect cast; her bisexual tendencies, ignorance of modern technology and zany one-liners have a whiff of Dianne Keaton about them - yet in a quintessentially British manor. Cameo returns from Joanne Lumley, David Hayman, and others are there to inject some thespian loveliness to proceedings, and get the odd chuckle here and there.

In the hefty 110 minute running time (30 minutes could have been shaved without a moments hesitation), the plot-lines follow relationship strands between all manor of characters, before the hastily orchestrated denouement in Rome wanders dangerously into melodrama. But if there’s one thing that can be forgivable in a romantic comedy is it’s tendency to be sentimental, and when the cast are so affable, well-cast and inherently charming - who cares? “Finding Your Feet” has a Sunday-afternoon, tea-and-biscuits sort of a vibe - and it has something to say about society’s perception of retirees in the prime of their lives - and good for it.

Rating 3/5.