Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me (2011)

Touches You

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

|I tried to watch this movie this afternoon, but found I was unable to watch it, not because I thought it was no good or anything like that, but because of the theme of the film hit a bit too close to home for me as I am in a similar situation, as the Fast Freddie character, I have been on renal dialysis for the last 17 years and am on my final access. I think any film that can bring home what it is like to be on dialysis can only be good. I wish there were more films like this about. As for the cast what I saw of Lawrence Fox and his transformation for have-it-all yuppie to a caring individual did seem a little unbelievable, but as I said above it was the Fast Freddie character that got my attention, overall I thought it was quite good, and it made a change to see something like kidney failure getting a mention.

I watched this because of Laurence Fox mainly, sitting with a box of tissues, preparing myself. If you watched the trailer or read about it, then you should CLEARLY realise what is going on and that it is going to be sentimental. However it was also funny too in places, and I didn't expect what happened with the family to happen. Good ol' Jonathan (Fox)!Jack McMullen was a joy to watch as Freddie, and he was so sweet throughout. Sarah Smart played her role very well, and I enjoyed the relationship between her character and the mother. I knew what was going to happen at the VERY end. It was anticipated. And I got a very large lump in my throat and had to turn it off. But when Jonathan took the Moonbeam kids shopping towards the beginning it just made me smile so much.

ITV must have thought everyone would be so comatose after Christmas food and drink that they would lap up any old sentimental twaddle. Perhaps millions did. This drama could have been put together by a write-your-own TV script computer program ("Click here for tear jerker") and possibly was.What gave it the final kiss of death was the presence of Laurence Fox in the leading role. He seems to specialise in phone-it-in performances, and this is a case in point. Perhaps the script is partly to blame, as his character starts the film as a childish egotist, who suddenly, at the mere turn of a page, becomes a soft-hearted philanthropist. However, I suspect that almost any TV actor of his age could have done a better job with the material.Jack McMullen is so-so in his role, while Sarah Smart is very good in hers.

Sentimental but not overly mawkish Christmas drama. Laurence Fox plays wealthy London car dealer Jonathan Donald, whose life revolves around closing the next big deal. Sentenced to 60 hours community service helping a group of disadvantaged special needs children, including a boy with a terminal heart condition, he reappraises the priorities in his life. Good performances from cast, with Jack McMullen as Fast Freddie and Sarah Smart as a dedicated community worker stand out. While this drama will not live long in the memory and has a rather leaden script, it passes the time well enough and is amiable albeit rather gritty fare for Christmas.