But I often feel like there are two types of Colman in a performance — the ones that could see her name on an awards’ shortlist and the others that are, well, a day’s work.
This wannabe feel-good film, directed by Emer Reynolds, sadly falls into the latter.
The opening scene is full of promise with a 12-year-old Mully (newcomer Charlie Reid) showing endless confidence in a pub by singing to the crowd while trying to raise money for his dead mum’s charity cancer fund.
However, his two-dimensional, chain-smoking “bad dad” (Lochlann O’Mearain) is watching with his shifty eyes, waiting to steal the money to pay off his own debts.
USUAL CONVINCING FLOW OF TEARS
Mully has no intention of letting this happen so immediately going against his “stealing is wrong” morals by nicking a cab to drive away in.
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This cab contains Joy (Colman) a drunk Irish solicitor, and her newborn baby who she wants to hand over to her friend for an official adoption.
Then, her plan is to fly away to Lanzarote for a holiday to get over the trauma of handing over a child she’s pretending not to care about.
But Mully has well and truly put a spanner in those works. This starts a slightly lacklustre road-trip adventure around Ireland’s picturesque County Kerry, where the strange threesome are being hotly pursued by Mully’s dad for a little bit of charity money.
Predictably, they are soon caught in a passive-aggressive mother/son bond, with the pair teaching each other plenty about life.
Mully knows exactly how to look after a baby, having helped care for many of his various siblings who were dumped on him.
He guides the cold Joy on how to feed and nurture the tot, and ignites her motherly instincts.
While Colman does bring heart to the film — and her usual convincing flow of tears — and Reid gives a sweet performance as the confident but damaged lad, the characters are not developed enough.
The supporting cast are simply caricatures and there’s little depth to the storyline.
It’s all very good natured, but there’s simply not enough joy in this bumpy ride of a film to keep you strapped in.
BABY boomers think of Happy Days when they see the name Ron Howard.
But the young actor who played Richie alongside the Fonz in the Seventies is now a director who turns real stories into drama.
His hits Apollo 13, Rush and Nixon v Frost all tell long-forgotten stories from the boomer era.
But now he has turned his attention to an incident from just four years ago.
In June 2018, 12 Thai boy footballers and their coach became trapped two miles inside a flooded cave system, sparking an incredible rescue operation.
In 13 Lives, Viggo Mortensen stars as English cave diver Rick Stanton, who is with John Volanthen (Colin Farrell) when they join the massed rescuers.
On the mountain of the Sleeping Lady above the Tham Luang caves thousands of locals, led by a holidaying engineer, divert billions of gallons of rain from flooding into the system.
Like Apollo 13, we already know the ending but the drama as rescuers risk killing the boys to save their lives will have you gasping for breath.
In cinemas and on Amazon Prime from August 5.
LOST along a rugged landscape somewhere outside of Tehran is where we join middle-aged parents and their two sons on a mysterious journey.
“Seatbelt! Rear mirror! Blinker! Onwards!” barks the unnamed deadpan dad (Hasan Majuni) as his quiet and troubled eldest son (Amin Simiar) drives away.
This is no ride along Route 66, but an emotional journey about a family due to be separated – yet the real reason why is reserved right until the final few miles of the movie.
Director Panah Panahi’s clever cinematography captures the claustrophobia of a car trip and moving moments that build tension about the upcoming reveal.
While, at times, the film’s pace could go up a gear or two, it’s punctuated with comedic scenes from rambunctious know-it-all six-year-old (Rayan Sarlak). From the car being defaced with a permanent marker to an unlikely escape from the gang’s dying dog, there are plenty of loveable moments.
But don’t think this is like any road trip you’ve made in the past.
Keep a firm grip on the steering wheel because there are several unexpected turns ahead.
