Director: Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin
Starring: Rosamund Pike, David Tennant, Billy Connolly, Ben Miller, Annette Crosby, Celia Imrie, Emilia Jones, Amelia Bullimore, Bobby Smallbridge
Distributor: Transmission Films
Runtime: 95 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2015

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Rating notes: Mild themes and coarse language

The title sounds like one of those essay topics which desperate teachers hand out to their students as the school year begins. If the children in this film had to write such an essay, it certainly wouldn’t be your ordinary themes, action or enjoyment.

The film is billed as a comedy and there is a great deal of humour in it, verbal, action, eccentric characters. However, the mood does change in the middle of the film and while there are some humorous and absurd situations, there is also a great deal of pathos.

The film opens with lovely Scottish loch scenery and a lone fisherman in a boat – who is then revealed as Billy Connolly, the grandfather of the family, not well, but about to celebrate his 75th birthday party. And he is not always fishing as there is a portable TV in his boat as well! But that is justified as he was a prominent footballer in his past, with a still strong reputation.

And then the film transfers to busy London, mother and father trying to organise their three children to get away to Scotland for the celebration. David Tennant (after Doctor Who) is Doug, the father, one of grandfather’s sons, the younger. His wife, Abi, is played by Rosamund Pike (just before she became Gone Girl). They seem fairly desperate, and it emerges that they are not living together, mainly his fault, but they are trying to keep up appearances for the sake of the children. Not that the children aren’t alert, but they also their own eccentricities, the older girl, Lottie, takes a diary with her and has a desperate need to tell the truth, utterly serious. The little girl, Jessie, has a propensity for taking things with her, this time favourite bricks and stones! And Michael, the son in the middle of the two sisters, is very much involved in Viking lore, something which becomes very important in the latter part of the film. After much excitement and getting away, the inevitable question is asked, “are we there yet?” – With the answer that they have only just got to Watford (outer London for those who don’t know it).

Meanwhile in Scotland, the other son, Gavin (Ben Miller), takes himself very seriously and is preparing to host a party in his father’s honour. In the meantime, there is eccentricity in this household as well, the audience later seeing a video with Gavin’s wife absolutely losing it in a supermarket (which, of course, goes viral on You tube). Gavin thinks his son, Kenneth, something of a nerd, which he may well be, but he has a real talent for playing the violin. And grandfather genially loves all his grandchildren.

When a crisis occurs in the middle of the film, and the party is about to begin, the musicians are playing, the guests are arriving, including the local laird whom they are all trying to impress, there is a fair bit of chaos, the children having made a decision which they are standing by, and most of the adults not believing them. The police are called in. The media have a field day, hounding the family, the adults in turn going out to try to pacify the media, only making a mess of their interventions. And a child welfare officer also turns up to interrogate the children.

This review has tried to be very careful in not revealing the twist in the middle of the film, so for those the who decide to go to see it, there are very entertaining performances, some witty dialogue, Billy Connolly as his usual self with a touch of sentiment, unexpected interactions – and, with the hope of some happy ever after after, perhaps, more than a touch of counselling!