Celia Imrie, Imelda Staunton
“FINDING YOUR FEET” My rating: C
111 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
I won’t say I hated “Finding Your Feet,” the most recent in a string of films (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” “I’ll See You in My Dreams,” “The Hero”) depicting love amongst the geriatric set.
But I just barely tolerated it.
Despite a solid cast of veteran British thesps — Imelda Staunton, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie, Joanna Lumley, David Hayman, John Sessions — the latest film from director Richard Loncraine (“Brimstone & Treacle,” “Richard III,” “My House in Umbria”) shamelessly panders to its blue-haired target audience. In its own way it’s as derivative and contrived as a Frankie and Annette beach party movie — except you don’t want to see this cast in bikinis.
Sandra (Staunton) is stunned to discover that Mike, her titled husband of 40 years, has been having an affair for nearly that entire time. So it’s splitsville, not only from Mike but from Sandra’s privileged, cash-intensive (and politically conservative) lifestyle.
On the rebound she washes up at the door of her estranged sister, Bif (Imrie), a septuagenarian hippie whose life of adventure and close friendships are diametrically opposed to Sandra’s stunted outlook.
Timothy Spall,
That setup tells you just about all you need to know about Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft’s screenplay.
Initially the moody, miserable Sandra is a pure pain in the ass to Bif’s bohemian friends. But little by little she breaks down her defenses, contemplating a courtship with the proletarian Charlie (Spall), a canal boat owner who participates in Bif’s dance class.
What follows is way too predictable: sibling rivalries, class conflict, an international dance competition (thus the film’s title) and, of course, that old standby the fatal illness.
These are terrific actors. That even they can’t prevent “Finding Your Feet” from chafing says something about the uphill battle they’re fighting.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 
Leave a Reply