High Hopes

Cyril (Philip Davis) is a 30-something bike messenger, something of a slacker type but responsible, with a bit of the Marxist in him but his ideals seem to be fading under the weight of Thatcherism.  He lives with his gardener girlfriend Shirley (Ruth Sheen), and although two have some differences over the subject of having children their relationship is generally loving and supportive.  Also in the mix is Cyril’s mother (Edna Doré), an elderly woman who feels lost and neglected.

The parts of the film that revolve around these three characters (and a brief appearance by a rather hapless out-of-towner named Wayne) make for touching drama in the style I usually associate with Mike Leigh.  Characters who are imperfect but trying, and even if they don’t always try their best, they’re sympathetic and endearing.  You care about what happens to them, you’re invested in their successes and failures.  I adore Ruth Sheen, and am disappointed that she has only one more leading role for me to check out (The Young Poisoner’s Handbook, already in my queue).  She kind of reminds me of a British Shelley Duvall (I think I might have a thing for tall, gawky, vaguely maternal women), she just seems like an exceedingly comforting presence.  Davis and Doré are quite good as well, although occasionally difficult to understand (the DVD really could have used subtitles).  Doré is a bit too much of a sad sack, but with good reason and eventually her character shows some other dimensions.

Where everything goes wrong are the other four prominent characters.  Heather Tobias is broad and ridiculous as Cyril’s shrill, self-centered sister Valerie.  Valerie’s husband Martin (Philip Jackson) is a boorish philanderer.  And even worse are Lesley Manville and David Bamber as the snooty yuppie neighbors of Cyril’s mother.  It’s like the movie has four of the “Jeremy” characters from Naked.  Just dumb stereotypes and caricatures that feel like they belong to a completely different film.  Leigh simply doesn’t seem to know how to handle unsympathetic characters.  Every time one of them is on screen, it becomes terrible, grating comedy.  As commentary on class warfare, it’s too cartoonish to have any impact, especially contrasted with the more down-to-earth depth of Cyril and Shirley.  Leigh can do comedy, but this type of comedy doesn’t suit him.  He can’t seem to commit to it all the way.  I would love to recommend the film solely for Sheen’s performance, but too much of it is unpleasant, poorly executed farce.  Rating: Poor

IMDb