Take one dysfunctional family of a soon-to-be divorced couple with their three oddball children. Another family of a high strung husband with his depressed wife and their aloof teenage son. One elderly apathetic patriarchal grandfather who is dying of cancer. Set it in an elaborate 75th birthday party in the Scottish Highlands. Awkward hilarity and ridiculousness ensues.
Doug McLeod (David Tennant) and Abi (Rosamund Pike) are experiencing marital difficulties and living apart, their situation isn’t helped by their precocious and quirky three children, Lottie (Emilia Jones) Mickey (Bobby Smalldridge ) and Jess (Harriet Turnbull ), when they take a family roadtrip. Doug’s bossy faux-rich brother Gavin (Ben Miller) and his mousey wife Margaret (Amelia Bullmore) and their son Kenneth (Lewis Davie) are just as troubled with their own issues. When they all come together for Doug and Gavin’s father Gordie’s (Billy Connolly) 75th birthday it becomes a comedy of errors.
This film is from the same team behind the hit BBC comedy TV series Outnumbered, written and directed by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. In a lot of ways it’s very similar to the tv show, particularly Doug and Abi’s situation with their three kids. The comedy from the film revolves around the parents and their children and all the interactions between this boiling pot of characters. Doug, Abi, Gavin and Margaret who even though they’re adults, for much of the time they act more like bickering children. Then of course there’s the actual kids who seem to have a habit of saying the wrong things at the most inopportune times resulting in amusingly cringe inducing scenes.
The film comes across as a depiction of the cliché dysfunctional family, albeit a heightened sense of that reality. Both Tennant and Pike’s performances of their characters comes across as likeable but sometimes you just want to shake them and tell them to get their shit together. And Miller’s older brother performance felt on the odd occasion switching from passive aggressive to just aggressive which was confusing but I guess his main trope is to play the smarmy older brother.
Connolly is probably the standout here out of the adults, but mainly because for once he’s not relying on comedy to carry his character. There are two sides we see to him, he’s bored of the idea of having an enormous party and really tired of waiting to die and dealing with his sons isn’t helping. But when he’s with his grandchildren he’s relaxed and almost at peace and his patience isn’t worn so thin. For Connolly, this film almost mirrored his real life, with him being diagnosed with prostate cancer only a few weeks before filming began and he subsequently choosing to keep it a secret from the cast and crew, just like the way Gordy does with his own family. It’s an inevitable thing that we all must meet our maker someday, thankfully though Connolly is still with us.
The children play a focal point in the film, particularly the eldest daughter Lottie who is brilliantly portrayed by Emilia Jones. Her scenes with Billy Connolly are some of the most moving, as the family patriarch tries to impart his wisdom to his granddaughter whilst she struggles to understand the complexities of everything that’s going. Gordie’s way of explaining his impending death to Lottie is both honest and touching. Where Jones’ character carries the responsibility of the emotional weight, Smalldridge and Turnbull get to play to the more comedic angle. Smalldridge gets to channel his rambunctious energy into the young Mickey, whose Viking obsession results in a few capers. Turnbull probably has the smallest role out of the children but some of her scenes are genuinely laugh out loud purely from great timing and improvisation.
What We Did On Our Holiday is visually lovely to watch with lots of gorgeous panoramic shots of Scotland that it’s almost like a tourism commercial. It’s a likeable and relatable film, which can be both endearing and exasperating to watch. You’ll come away either loving or hating kids more depending on your original stance. But all in all it will remind you that everybody has dysfunctional families but it’s what you do together that counts.
Review Score: THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Running Time: 93 minutes
What We Did On Our Holiday is out in Australia this Thursday, 12 February 2015, through Transmission Films
———-
