Golden Years

Silver Cinema is in something of a golden age (thanks to the Exotic Marigold Hotel films et al) and this Ealing-inspired caper once again demonstrates there's more to getting old than Werther's Originals and daytime television. Fittingly, TV presenter Nick Knowles co-wrote this spry story that relocates the premise of Fun with Dick and Jane to the West Country where Bernard Hill's opportunistic OAP carries out a fortuitous raid on a security van, so furious is he with the bank for frittering away his pension. However, when his wife (Virginia McKenna) needs expensive medical treatment and the local bowls club is threatened with closure, Hill becomes a regular Robin Hood. Offering choice supporting roles for Simon Callow, Una Stubbs and Phil Davis as Hill and McKenna's eventual partners in crime and Alun Armstrong as the copper on their trail, this is essentially a glorified sitcom. The humour is exceedingly gentle and the plot increasingly improbable. But John Miller directs steadily and the performances are irresistibly knowing.