Billy Connolly finds laughs are child's play

3 / 5 stars
What We Did On Our Holiday

IT IS proudly billed as coming from the team that brought us TV staple Outnumbered, which means there are some very amusing moments when kids say the funniest, unscripted things.

reviews, films, what we did on holiday, billy connolly, scotland, fun, familyBilly Connolly is in fine form as a granddad[PH]

It is proudly billed as coming from the team that brought us TV staple Outnumbered, which means there are some very amusing moments when kids say the funniest, unscripted things.

Unfortunately a convoluted, laboured plot takes hold in the final stretch and it is like an indestructible weed that slowly chokes the life from what was once a pretty, fragrant garden.

By the time the film has finished the bloom has faded and the lustre is gone. Still there is that buoyant, confident first hour and the great Billy Connolly who brings an added sparkle every time he appears.

In true Outnumbered fashion the adults are exasperated, bickering fools with little common sense while the children are wise beyond their years and always ready with an awkward question or a comment that cuts straight to the heart of a dilemma. Just like life really.

In London, Abi (Rosamund Pike) and Doug (David Tennant) are trying to make the most of a messy divorce for the sake of their three children: four-year-old kleptomaniac Jess (Harriet Turnbull), Viking-obsessed Mickey (Bobby Smalldridge) six, and serious, anxious nine-year-old Lottie (Emilia Jones), who has started keeping a notebook of all the lies they have promised to tell the rest of the family who still believe that everything is rosy.

They all head to Scotland for the 75th birthday party of grandpa Gordie (Billy Connolly), an occasion all the more important because it might be their last family gathering and it is definitely the last birthday bash for the terminally ill Gordie.

Connolly has a great rapport with the children and twinkles with mischief as he indulges their imaginations and leads them all in a rousing chorus of a saucy song or two. Some of the other actors are less fortunate. Given all the Scottish actors great and small in the world, you wonder why they cast Ben Miller as Doug's smug older brother Gavin.

Billy Connolly s been teaching kids rude songs!

What We Did On Our Holiday is a plucky attempt to create a genial British comedy

Sporting a terrible accent, Miller is lumbered with a thankless role. We know Gavin is very rich but nobody seems to know why and Gavin can't really explain all the complexities of his wheeler-dealer financial activities. He is not a banker and settles for describing himself as a "short-seller". "You sell shorts?" asks the innocent and hopelessly confused Mickey.

The best scenes come when grandpa escapes the madness of his birthday preparations and heads to the beach with the grandchildren.

There is a tender affection and gentle comedy in these moments and a poignancy added by our knowledge of Connolly's own health problems in recent months.

Then everything starts to go pear-shaped with some frantic twists and turns and a plot that grows increasingly ridiculous and unconvincing. It's as if someone has taken the stopper from an air mattress so all we can do is watch it slowly deflate before our very eyes.

The search for truthful moments and situations brings out the brightest comedy, farcical nonsense quickly grows tiresome.

Things are not helped by the desire to create a gloriously happy conclusion in which all's well that ends well.

Still, What We Did On Our Holiday is a plucky attempt to create a genial British comedy.

Scotland looks lovely and Connolly and the children are priceless together. You can't have everything.

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