I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
If you’re expecting a wry and witty social commentary, prepare to be disappointed. Despite clear intentions, British gardening comedy Grow Your Own comes undone when too many narrative vines fail to blossom.
Following a group of allotment owners who throw their tools around when a group of refugees are granted their own patch of land, Grow Your Own ends up as little more than a series of fragmented sketches, with no strong characters to follow.
Making matters worse is the awkward tone that veers between tragedy (Kung Sang recounting his heart-breaking experience) and juvenile humour (Blacktree Road Allotments = B.R.A.).
The dialogue is simplistic, and the characters are often unconvincing caricatures (e.g. there’s an ‘evil’ corporate woman who wants to bulldoze the land for a mobile phone aerial). The humour is lukewarm at best.
Despite featuring some excellent actors – Eddie Marsan, Benedict Wong and Olivia Colman, to name a few – Grow Your Own is not worth rushing out to see.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
Brilliant movie really enjoyed it
An interesting insight into the world of an aspect of life of some in the UK. How even the old reactionaries can find the benefit from the immigration and immigrants. Could have had more laughs, in fact the people I went with were funnier!
More Drama than comedy I would have liked more laughs
Frank Cottrell Boyce's script isn't short of a few witty one-liners, but they fail to compensate for an under-developed plot that seems to rest on its laurels. The main problem arises when the film attempts to address social issues. Boyce's idea of social tension boils down to a simple disagreement over the colour of the sheds, rather than tackling the root of the problem within small communities. Hence, while it works as an antidote to the gritty realism of recent British films, Grow Your Own's twee optimism is sometimes a little too much to digest.
The film slowly wins you over with its gentle humour, modest direction, classy script and convincing performances. The obscure world of allotments in northern England may not appeal to a wide New Zealand audience, but the universal humanity of the film should.
Marrows, caulies, onions – they grow everything at Blacktree Road Allotments. The only they won’t admit to is an awful lot of corn, for this British flick contains barrowloads of the stuff. As a light comedy it’ll entertain the most undemanding of audiences but, really, couldn’t the makers have diverted from The Formula for just one second?
Well-intentioned, and well-cast, this British movie is nonetheless desperately underpowered.
Grow Your Own is a gentle film about diversity and integration but only really scratches the surface of this social tension. It's an amusing mix of characters but they fit too easily into recognisable cliches. While there are some heartfelt and very funny moments, the narrative is simple and the story feels undeveloped and predictable.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 19th Jun 2008.
Release date: June 19th 2008.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
