Starring: Jenny Seagrove, Sally Phillips, Kelly Preston, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips, Judi Dench, Peter Bowles, Ben Miller, Martin Shaw and Franco Nero
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 104 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Three 50-something women set out to repeat the European inter-railing adventures of their youth, after their close friend passes away leaving them rail tickets, and a final request: to take her teenage daughter with them.
The title indicates where this film is going – off the rails. However, it could have just as well been called Girls Trip, Girls (Many) Nights Out. The target audience, very quickly established, is female, of an indeterminate age. There are various clues early in the piece: the explanation for the soundtrack, more than a dozen songs by Blondie, their favourite when they were young – and they are now at grandmother age.
It is fair to add a comment from an IMDb blogger that challenges male perspectives on the film: ‘I also secretly love that middle-aged male critics don’t get it. This one is for us!’
This is one of those stories where women friends from the past who have grown rather apart, have some secrets and resentments, are brought together on the occasion of the death of one of their friends. The film begins soberly with Judi Dench offering a eulogy at the funeral of her daughter, with some moments of Peter Bowles as the vicar. At the ceremony, the deceased woman’s daughter, Maddie, 18, plays the organ for a song which the three friends sing.
There is a credit for the ‘original story’ which seems rather a stretch. We have seen this kind of film before, the dead woman leaving tickets for her three friends to take her daughter to relive one of the trips of the past, with the ultimate goal being the cathedral in Palma de Mallorca.
It is a long time since the three were friends, back in the travelling days, back in the Blondie days, drinking, kicking over the traces. They are not quite like that now. Kate (Seagrove) is serious and solemn. Cassie, an American, is the long-time star of a television show, moody and peremptory when she wants to. She is played by Kelly Preston in her last role and the film is dedicated to her. There is some enjoyment with Liz (Phillips) who was settled down to marriage and ordinary life (but about to be shocked by her husband). Maddie is played by newcomer, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips.
So, some random adventures with comic touches, especially when they miss numerous trains, when a train breaks down, when they miss the ferry to Palma… And sequences in Paris, especially a potential spree in a fashionable dress shop, nightclubs, the encounter with a British guitarist, and then a train into Italy. On board there is a young man who attracts Maddie’s attention. And there is a pregnant woman, the passengers all trek along the train lines and out into the field, helping her as she gives birth, Liz acting as midwife. There’s rejoicing, and an outdoor party held, attended by the mayor Giovanni (Nero). When it looks like they won’t make their final connections the mayor comes to the rescue with a World War II plane flying them to Spain, the guitarist turning up with his motorbike so that they get to the cathedral.
As the sun shines and reflects through the rose window of the cathedral is a beautiful site. While mostly a slight entertainment, for some – especially those who identify with the characters – a good show.
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