Look, I get the reviews. It's not great, the plot is wafer-thin, but the music is great and I can understand the constraints of the budget and actually think that the production design was well done.
However, the only major criticism of this film is the seemingly-short distance it apparently takes to get from Stoke to Wigan! Do you know how long that would take? Even today you're talking heading north for an hour, in a fast car, up the M6.
And as a Stoke native, Martin didn't do too bad with the accent, and he's Scottish. But as for the others, I see that the 'generic Northern' comes out again, when the Stoke accent is far more nuanced and difficult for an outsider. There's definite Derby/Nottingham twang in there, and maybe a bit of a Scouse. Toby Jones gave it a good go in Marvellous.
Anyway, worth a watch. Plenty of future stars in there.
However, the only major criticism of this film is the seemingly-short distance it apparently takes to get from Stoke to Wigan! Do you know how long that would take? Even today you're talking heading north for an hour, in a fast car, up the M6.
And as a Stoke native, Martin didn't do too bad with the accent, and he's Scottish. But as for the others, I see that the 'generic Northern' comes out again, when the Stoke accent is far more nuanced and difficult for an outsider. There's definite Derby/Nottingham twang in there, and maybe a bit of a Scouse. Toby Jones gave it a good go in Marvellous.
Anyway, worth a watch. Plenty of future stars in there.