It would be funny if it didn't hurt so much.
1993-09-09
N/A
90 min
Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to more and more questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money. This tragic flaw leads him to risk all that he loves and values, his beloved family, indeed even his immortal soul and salvation, in blind pursuit of that goal.
I watched this to see Bruce Jones in it, who I know from long ago Coronation Street. He performed well with a limiting script. I mean, there was plenty of emotional highs and lows for him to strut his stuff, but the plot seemed weak and fell back on stereotypes. I had trouble with his being too proud to accept charity but he has no qualms about breaking the law. Do those two standards really fit with each other? I was poor for several years as a young adult and never came close to that sort of reasoning.
I am in the U.S. but I have watched a lot of British programming and movies over the years and usually manage the accents quite well, but these folks often spoke very fast and low, and I missed half or more of some conversations . Luckily the plot was so simple it was still easy to follow what was going on.
I give the ending credit for not being predictable, but it also seemed kind of pat, deus es machina.
