I was really excited about this film being released, based round the northern soul scene, the recreation of the Wigan Casino and all that, so was very pleased to see it was showing in Portsmouth to coincide with my visit.
I left feeling disappointed. It is basically a boy meets girl out of reach, boy chases girl out of reach etc. He tries to impress her and win her by getting involved and interested in the club she travels from Stoke to, The Wigan Casino.
The cast do well with a script that follows the well worn scenarios we've seen before in other films and the nostalgia is great. Seeing the sign of the Casino Club as they got off the coach genuinely put the hairs on the back of my neck up and some of the indoor dance scenes were OK too, even if they relied too heavily on the old documentary shots from the seventies to fill. I thought they had brought in loads of dancers from the current scene to film? Surely they could have used more of these? The music choice was great and there were some genuinely funny moments, but overall I felt it was more a film that started as a storyline and they needed a cult scene to base it round to fill seats because without it there wouldn't be much of a film and chose northern soul. That is probably not right but I just felt that.
I also spent the film wondering why everyone was so bowled over by this blonde girl he was besotted with when the brunette that fancied him was far better looking.
Not a great film but an enjoyable one if only for the nostalgia, just don't watch it expecting it to be about the northern soul scene as such, two quick examples to that, the dance off at the end was embarrassing and not something you'd have seen at Wigan, same with someone spinning on their back, but it is a harmless ninety minutes if you want an easy film to watch.
I left feeling disappointed. It is basically a boy meets girl out of reach, boy chases girl out of reach etc. He tries to impress her and win her by getting involved and interested in the club she travels from Stoke to, The Wigan Casino.
The cast do well with a script that follows the well worn scenarios we've seen before in other films and the nostalgia is great. Seeing the sign of the Casino Club as they got off the coach genuinely put the hairs on the back of my neck up and some of the indoor dance scenes were OK too, even if they relied too heavily on the old documentary shots from the seventies to fill. I thought they had brought in loads of dancers from the current scene to film? Surely they could have used more of these? The music choice was great and there were some genuinely funny moments, but overall I felt it was more a film that started as a storyline and they needed a cult scene to base it round to fill seats because without it there wouldn't be much of a film and chose northern soul. That is probably not right but I just felt that.
I also spent the film wondering why everyone was so bowled over by this blonde girl he was besotted with when the brunette that fancied him was far better looking.
Not a great film but an enjoyable one if only for the nostalgia, just don't watch it expecting it to be about the northern soul scene as such, two quick examples to that, the dance off at the end was embarrassing and not something you'd have seen at Wigan, same with someone spinning on their back, but it is a harmless ninety minutes if you want an easy film to watch.