A One Mann’s Movies review of “Greatest Days” (2023).
“Greatest Days” is a movie version of the “Take That” musical – “The Band”. This show came out a couple of years ago. (Indeed, the show is currently – summer 2023 – on an extensive tour around the UK.) We are very much in “Mamma Mia” territory here. This is a happy-clappy ‘feelgood’ movie set around familiar hit songs and a loosely fabricated story around them.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Rachel (Aisling Bea), never wins anything. So she is astonished to win a ‘Radio Clitheroe’ phone-in quiz where the prize is to see a concert from the reunion tour of “The Boys”: the boy-band that she idolised as a teenager. The prize gives her the chance to reconnect with her old school-friends, but dredges up pain and recriminations from her past.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: NR. (From the BBFC web site: “Infrequent strong language, moderate sex references”.)
Talent:
Starring: Aisling Bea, Alice Lowe, Emma Amos, Jayde Adams, Amaka Okafor, Marc Wooten, Lara McDonnell, Eliza Dobson, Carragon Guest, Jessie Mae Alonzo, Nandi Hudson.
Directed by: Coky Giedroyc.
Written by: Tim Firth.
Twitter Handle: #GreatestDaysMovie, #greatestdaysuk.
Girls on a roll in Athens. From L to R: Jayde Adams, Alice Lowe, Aisling Bea and Amaka Okafor. (Source: Elysian Film Group).
“Greatest Days” Review:
Positives:
- The film starts in a positive fashion (once you get over the slight discomfort of seeing an underage girl in a school uniform being manhandled by fully-grown men!) The opening scenes paint the troubled life of young Rachel (Lara McDonnell). She protects her young brother in a battlefield of a family home. Her only joy is her love of the boy band, creatively called in true 90’s fashion, “The Boys”. As a pitched battle goes on between her parents, Rachel makes breakfast assisted by The Boys mournfully singing “Pray”. We then segue to the modern-day and a 40-something Rachel (Aisling Bea): a nurse in a children’s hospital. She’s caring, sharing, but a bit lost and adift in her life.
- There are some standout moments in the film, aligned to particular Take That hits. The strongest by far is during ‘Back for Good’ in Athens: an evocative look at the gulf that some people feel between their current lives and the hopes and dreams they had when they were idealistic teenagers.
- The young cast deliver good performances, especially Lara McDonnell as Rachel, Nandi Hudson as Zooey (“two O’s and an E”) and Jessie Mae Alonzo as the unlucky Debbie.
- There are some entertaining dance numbers, particularly ‘Relight Your Fire’ featuring a delightfully colourful drag-bus-driver doing their stuff!
Negatives:
- I really wanted this to be a happy, feelgood movie set to the bangin’ tunes that I loved. Yes, I’d have been happy if there were a few bumps in the road to generate a tear or two (a la “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again“). But I really wanted the story arc to be ‘SATISFYING’. I really didn’t get that. I fully understand what they were trying to do (see the “Spoiler” section below the trailer). But there are elements of the story (again, see the spoiler section) that just land like a depressing cold, wet sponge. And then the rest of the story after that point really doesn’t align well with what happens at that point.
- There are some moments in the film that just come over so “naff”. Other opinions are available*, but I found an airside Busby Berkeley-style dance number (as sponsored by Easyjet) to be akin to one of those ‘Saturday Seaside Special’ dance numbers the BBC used to show on a Saturday night in the 1970’s. (If you’re of a certain age, you’ll understand this). (* OOAA, since the illustrious Mrs Movie Man was APPALLED at my views on this and thought it one of the best parts of the film!)
Summary Thoughts on “Greatest Days”
I would consider myself a Take That fan, having twice gone along with the family to see them in their stadium concerts. I wanted to love this, I really did, and there can be no doubting the enthusiasm with which the cast (and indeed – in the finale – the whole population of Clitheroe!) throw themselves into the production. While it did occasionally entertain, the arc of the story made me feel distinctly “meh”.
I might watch it again if it comes on the tele… but I might be playing on my phone while I did so.
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Trailer for “Greatest Days”
The trailer is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHhOM35Srto .
Spoiler Section
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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The storyline intended
So, I can relate to what the scriptwriter Tim Firth (the writer of the stage musical) was trying to do. All of the 40-somethings were like the proverbial frog in the pot of heating water, never realising that they are slowly boiling to death in their “ordinary” lives. The reunion of “The Boys”, and of their old school friends, effectively acted as a catalyst to shake them out of their drifting lives, with each doing something to step forwards into new territory. It’s a good story, and one worth telling.
Where this came off the rails for me
The trip to Athens was where the wheels came off for me. After the police arrest (a complete retread of “Book Club: The Next Chapter” by the way!), arriving too-late for the concert and then having a major bust up was not the “feelgood” event I thought it was going to be. I felt cheated. After this bittersweet moment (beautifully rendered by the “Back for Good” scenes where young and old versions of the characters sing back-to-back) there seems to be nothing in the plot that heals those wounds. We get Rachel’s wedding… and they are all together again, hugging – no recriminations, no explanations. I just found it all very unsatisfactory.
