Gold

This Irish family drama aims to capture some of the quirky charm of 2007 indie hit Juno, right down to the crayon-scrawly title font, but sadly it misses its target on almost all counts. Maisie Williams is feisty enough as Abbie, a school cross-country champ whose life is turned upside down when her shambolic father (David Wilmot) reappears after a ten-year absence, much to the disgust of her mother's new husband, PE teacher Frank (James Nesbitt). Wilmot relies on a misplaced confidence in his own shambling charm while Nesbitt hardly breaks a sweat as the buttoned-up coach. Meanwhile, the rest of the cast wander through the featherweight screenplay on autopilot. And things aren't helped by a couple of highly implausible plot turns (a hopeful star athlete ignorant of the existence of drugs tests, really?) and a laughably convenient case of that old daytime soap stalwart, amnesia. Meanwhile Niall Heery's direction is workmanlike at best. Sadly, this Gold is anything but glittering.