I remember the talent show Let It Shine a few years ago, where Gary Barlow was searching for new talent to form a boyband for his Take That musical; back then it was called The Band, then it was retitled, and then it was turned into a movie, written by Tim Firth (Calendar Girls, Kinky Boots). Directed by Coky Giedroyc (Mel's sister). Basically, in 1993, in the northern small town of Clitheroe, Lancashire, a quintet of teenage schoolgirls: Rachel (Belfast's Lara McDonnell), Claire (Carragon Guest), Zoe (Nandi Sawyers-Hudson), Heather (Eliza Dobson), and Debbie (Jessie Mae Alonzo) worship pop boyband The Boys (Aaron Bryan, Dalvin Cory, Joshua Jung, Mervin Noronha, and Mark Samaras). Rachel in particular has many daydreams of her favourite boyband appearing and singing along with her to help her block out her unhappy home life. The group of friends have their dreams come true when they get the opportunity to see the band onstage at a concert. After making memories that last a lifetime, the girls gather at a place in the hills surrounded by rocks and make a promise that they will always be together. Twenty-five years later, the girls have all gone their separate ways. Rachel (Aisling Bea) works as an NHS children's ward night-time nurse who is always perky with her young patients, and she is in relationship with boyfriend Jeff (Nativity's Marc Wootton) who continuously proposes marriage. After entering a radio competition to win all-expenses-paid tickets to a concert in Athens, Greece where The Boys are reuniting. Rachel is shocked and delighted to be called and win. Rachel sees this as an opportunity to reunite with her friends who she has not seen for decades. After getting in touch with each of them and inviting them, Rachel is reunited with Claire (Jayde Adams), who is obese, Heather (Prevenge's Alice Lowe), a fashion designer, and Zoe (Amaka Okafor), an academic, at the airport, but Debbie is absent. Arriving in Athens, the friends enjoy the hotel and sights, but their antics get them into trouble. They are arrested on the night of the concert, and despite their best efforts to make it, they are too late for it. The friends end up having an argument and split up. Back in Britain, they return to their normal lives. It is revealed that they parted ways in the past following the death of Debbie, who was killed after a road accident. In the end, Rachel and Jeff are finally married, she reconciles with Claire, Heather and Zoe who attend the wedding. They later gather at the rocky place from their childhood, reminiscing about Debbie. After that, Rachel, Jeff, Rachel's friends, and many of the people of the town celebrate the wedding. Also starring Matthew McNulty as Stuart, Hannah James-Scott as Rachel's Mum, Lindsay Bennett-Thompson as Heather's Mum Irene, Ermar Alexander as Debbie's Dad, and The X Factor's Linda John-Pierre as Passing Nurse, with cameos from Take That (Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and Howard Donald, also producing) as buskers on the train. Bea gives an endearing central performance as the leader of the girlhood pals, McDonnel as her younger counterpart is equally likeable, Adams is amusing as the woman formerly dreaming of Olympic glory, Lowe and Okafor are alright, and Wootton is okay. The Take That songs featured in the film are: "Pray", "Could It Be Magic", "Relight My Fire", "Shine", "Greatest Day", "Said It All", "The Flood", "A Million Love Songs", "Back for Good", "Patience", "Rule the World", and "Never Forget", (and there are small bits and instrumentals of "It Only Takes a Minute", "Babe", "The Garden", and "Everything Changes"). It does feel cheesy a fair amount of the time, the death of a member of the group is guessable even before it is seen in flashback, and the fallout scenes are patchy. However, it is feel-good entertainment, and I admit I was singing along with all the songs which are performed to a good standard with well-choreographed and edited colourful dance sequences, fans of the boyband will certainly have fun, a schmaltzy but nostalgic and reasonable jukebox musical comedy drama. Worth watching!
Review of Greatest Days
