Category: Comedy

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

In London, an award-winning film-maker documents her best friend’s journey into an assisted marriage in line with his family’s Pakistani heritage. In the process, she challenges her own attitude towards relationships.

Showing: 6 December 2023

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

What’s Love Got to Do with It? Plot Synopsis

How do you find lasting love in today’s world? For documentary filmmaker Zoe (Lily James), swiping right to find Mr Right has only delivered bad dates and funny anecdotes, much to her opinionated mother Cath’s (Emma Thompson) dismay. For her childhood friend and neighbour Kazim (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents’ example and opt for an assisted marriage with a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger, chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a different approach to finding love.

Film Reviews

The tone is distinctly feelgood, but the film, directed by Shekhar Kapur, thoughtfully explores the different ways that relationships can be built, and what cultures can teach one another.

Jessie Thompson, The independant

Everything about this one is lovely and magical, but it’s also deeply heartfelt.

Martin Tsai, The Wrap

Official Film Trailer for What’s Love Got to Do with It?

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< November 2023

January 2023 >

Brian and Charles

After a particularly harsh winter Brian goes into a deep depression; completely isolated and with no one to talk to, Brian does what any sane person would do when faced with such a melancholic situation. He builds a robot.

Shown: 6 September 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 61%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

Brian and Charles Plot Synopsis

Brian and Charles follows Brian, a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he’s invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.

Film Reviews

If themes about the importance of friendship, hope, and love land a bit on the nose, there’s no denying Brian and Charles takes an innovative approach to delivering them, even if — see above — the tack is brazenly metaphorical. Yet its distinctive charms are resonant enough to offset a slender story in what nevertheless amounts to a sweet and earnest, modern-day fable.

Kim Huges – Original Cin

It isn’t easy to develop a sketch-length idea into a feature film and not easy to pivot from ironic comedy into dark Straw Dogs-style menace, and then into a sweet-natured happy ending. But Earl, Hayward and Archer have managed it. It’s the bromance of the year.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Official Film Trailer for Brian and Charles

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< March 2023

October 2023 >

Dream Horse

Dream Alliance is an unlikely race horse bred by small-town Welsh bartender Jan Vokes. With no experience, Jan convinces her neighbours to chip in their meagre earnings to help raise Dream in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites.

Shown: 5 April 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 96%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

Dream Horse Plot Synopsis

Experience the inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes (Toni Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream and compete with the racing elites. Their investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks and becomes a beacon of hope in their struggling community.

Film Reviews

We can see every plot point rounding the turn long before the finish line, but that’s OK, because we’re having a (dare I say it) jolly grand time every step of the way.

Richard Roeper – Chicago Sun Times

Sure it’s hokey, but this fact-based crowd-pleaser starring a terrific Toni Collette as a struggling Welsh villager who risks everything on a racehorse she breeds and raises is an underdog story that works like a charm.

Peter Travers, ABC News

Official Film Trailer for Dream Horse

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< March 2023

September 2023 >

Finding Your Feet

On the eve of retirement a middle class, judgmental snob discovers her husband has been having an affair with her best friend and is forced into exile with her bohemian sister who lives on an impoverished inner-city council estate.

Shown: 1 February 2023

Exminster Film Club Rating: 97%

BBFC 12 Rating Badge
  • Date of release: 2017
  • Running time: 1h 51m
  • Director: Richard Loncraine
  • Writers: Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft
  • Country: UK
  • Language: English
  • Links: IMDB Rotten Tomatoes Metacritic BBFC

Finding Your Feet Plot Synopsis

When “Lady” Sandra Abbott discovers that her husband of 40 years is having an affair with her best friend, she seeks refuge in London with her estranged, older sister Bif. The two could not be more different – Sandra is a fish out of water next to her outspoken, serial dating, free-spirited sibling. But different is just what Sandra needs at the moment, and she reluctantly lets Bif drag her along to a community dance class, where she starts finding her feet.

Film Reviews

Finding Your Feet finds its own footing by putting its trust in its sturdy performers and avoiding many of the usual tea-time clichés as it allows its British cast to be defined by their relatable human circumstances more than quaint Anglo quirks.

Susan Wloszzczyna – RogerEbert.com

The modest rewards in Finding Your Feet are ones of sprightly human chemistry rather than great narrative discovery, of all-round good humour rather than outright hilarity.

Guy Lodge, Variety

Official Film Trailer for Finding Your Feet

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< January 2023

March 2023 >

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Shown: 2 November 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 76%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Plot Synopsis

When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Film Reviews

Director Jason Reitman does his father and fans proud with a funny, sweet, and spooky family movie that proudly takes on the legacy of Ghostbusters, while also introducing something exciting and new.

Rosie Knight, IGN

It’s always fun, inventive and full of charm. If you have any concerns that Jason Reitman’s film might sully the legacy of his dad’s greatest creation, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

Olly Richards, Empire

Official Film Trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife

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< October 2022

December 2022 >

The Duke

In 1961, Kempton Bunton stole a valuable painting from the London National Gallery. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return it on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world.

Shown: 5 October 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 90%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

The Duke Plot Synopsis

In 1961, 60-year-old Kempton Bunton stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. He sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government invested more in care for the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. An uplifting true story about a good man who set out to change the world and managed to save his marriage.

Film Reviews

You could dine on nothing but lard for twenty years and still not develop the hardness of heart necessary to avoid being won over by Roger Michell‘s The Duke, a ridiculously charming British comedy that dunks a gamely accented prestige cast into an appealingly milky true story like so many digestives into a warm, well-earned, early evening cuppa.

Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

The Duke is that rarest of things: a comedy that knows that a twinkle in the eye and a fire in the belly needn’t be mutually exclusive.

Robbie Collin – The Telegraph

Official Film Trailer for The Duke

Review from an EFC Member

A film based on a true story. Outstanding performances by Jim Boadbent as a man with an active social conscience and Helen Mirren as his long suffering wife. The story is touching, a balance of grief, justice and many humorous moments.

I greatly enjoyed the whole film and would happily watch it again.

Judith
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< September 2022

November 2022 >

Local Hero

An oil company executive gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his boss he quickly begins to question whether he is on the right side.

Shown: 5 January 2022

Exminster Film Club Rating: 80%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

Local Hero Plot Synopsis

Up-and-coming Houston oil executive “Mac” MacIntyre (Peter Riegert) gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his colourful boss (Burt Lancaster) to the small village of Ferness, Mac is looking to quickly buy out the townspeople so his company can build a new refinery. But after a taste of country life Mac begins to question whether he is on the right side of this transaction.

Film Reviews

Here is a small film to treasure, a loving, funny, understated portrait of a small Scottish town and its encounter with a giant oil company.

Roger Ebert

Local Hero, which concerns the frustrations of a Texas oilman’s attempts to buy up an idyllic Scottish village, ranks as a lyrical anti-urban comedy in the great tradition of films like I Know Where I’m Going and Whisky Galore!; and its essential triumph is to prove that comedy can still contain a gentle, almost mystical, aspect without necessarily being old-fashioned.

Time Out

Official Film Trailer for Local Hero

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< December 2021

February 2022 >

The Personal History of David Copperfield

A re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ classic through the comedic lens of its award-winning filmmakers – giving the Dickensian tale new life for a cosmopolitan age with a diverse ensemble cast of stage and screen actors.

Shown: 1 December 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 82%

2019 BBFC Ratings Badge PG

The Personal History of David Copperfield Plot Synopsis

A re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ classic ode to grit and perseverance through the comedic lens of its award-winning filmmakers – giving the Dickensian tale new life for a cosmopolitan age with a diverse ensemble cast of stage and screen actors from across the world. Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell lend their wry, yet heart-filled storytelling style to revisiting Dickens’ iconic hero on his quirky journey from impoverished orphan to burgeoning writer in Victorian England.

Film Reviews

Restructuring some story arcs and jettisoning others, Iannucci and his collaborator, Simon Blackwell, have created a souped-up, trimmed-down adaptation so fleet and entertaining that its cleverness doesn’t immediately register.

Jeanette Catsoulis, New York Times

Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield comes across as a bright and jaunty corrective to the dour and stuffy Dickens adaptations that have come before.

Peter Debruge, Variety

Official Film Trailer for The Personal History of David Copperfield

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< November 2021

January 2022 >

Misbehaviour

In 1970, the Miss World competition took place in London. Claiming that beauty competitions demeaned women, the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement achieved overnight fame by invading the stage.

Shown: 6 October 2021

Exminster Film Club Rating: 80%

BBFC Ratings Badge 12A

Misbehaviour Plot Synopsis

In 1970, the Miss World competition took place in London, hosted by US comedy legend, Bob Hope. At the time, Miss World was the most-watched TV show on the planet with over 100 million viewers. Claiming that beauty competitions demeaned women, the newly formed Women’s Liberation Movement achieved overnight fame by invading the stage and disrupting the live broadcast of the competition. Not only that, when the show resumed, the result caused uproar: the winner was not the Swedish favourite but Miss Grenada, the first black woman to be crowned Miss World. In a matter of hours, a global audience had witnessed the patriarchy driven from the stage and the Western ideal of beauty turned on its head.

Film Reviews

If there is a tonal uncertainty in this comedy, then that’s because there was a tonal uncertainty in the real-life events, and the movie nicely conveys how they were at one and the same time deadly serious and Pythonically silly.

Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Well written, -acted, -cast and -produced, this wholly entertaining yet stingingly relevant story of the 1970 Miss World finals should have been a smash hit when it opened in UK theatres on March 13, but events overtook its release.

Fionnuala Halligan, Screen Daily

Official Film Trailer for Misbehaviour

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< September 2021

November 2021 >

Military Wives

Inspired by global phenomenon of military wives choirs, the story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base. As unexpected bonds of friendship flourish, music and laughter transform their lives.

Shown: 4 December 2020

Rated 12A by the BBFC.

Plot Synopsis

Inspired by global phenomenon of military wives choirs, the story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base. As unexpected bonds of friendship flourish, music and laughter transform their lives, helping each other to overcome their fears for loved ones in combat.

Films Reviews

In a classic Brit-com flanking manoeuvre, the film tries to simultaneously reduce the viewer to tears while inviting us to bask in the fuzzy glow of our friends and neighbour’s innate decency. Luckily it succeeds, thanks in no small part to the commitment shown by Horgan and Scott Thomas.

Ed Power, The Telegraph

You are well aware of the shameless manipulation and can second-guess exactly where it is going and yet resistance is futile. It tugs at the heartstrings with such determination and sincerity that there may not be a dry eye in the cinema.

Allan Hunter, Screen Daily

Official Film Trailer

Review from an EFC Member

Having seen on the programme that the film “Military Wives” was to be shown on 4th December, despite social distancing, I decided not to miss a film I had been waiting to see, (I missed it when on general release some while ago).

I certainly wasn’t disappointed. From the opening scenes, I was “hooked”. The cast, headed by Kristin Scott Thomas, were so realistic in the way they portrayed “living on the base” where the hierarchy of military life flows down to the families as well as to the “enlisted men and women”. The leaving of the recruits to do a tour of duty on the front line would strike a chord with all of those people who are connected to the service way of life. Musically, the choir was very well portrayed in the story, and with the added bonus of the heightened emotions of performing in front of “the boss”, it showed so many dimensions to being a forces wife and what the family has to embrace in those circumstances.

The emotion of the film left “not a dry eye in the house!”

Pam Healey.
(formerly the daughter of a WW2 gunnery officer and wife of a Trials/Design Officer in the RN and RNZN!)
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< November 2020

September 2021 >