A heart warming, funny story about a family on vacation with kids innocently revealing secrets and intimate details about their parents. The goal of keeping a secret hence reaches the roadblock making this a great family laugh riot.
Doug McLeod (David Tennant) is on the verge of his seperation with his wife Abi (Rosamund Pike). It happens to be Doug’s father Gordie’s (Billy Connolly) 75th birthday and the couple along with their three children have to travel to the Scottish Highlands for the grand celebration.
Doug’s father has terminal cancer, therefore his brother, a millionaire Gavin McLeod (Ben Miller) has arranged a lavish party to celebrate the old man’s birthday. They have invited all the important people in the neighbourhood.
Despite difficulties getting their three children, Lottie (Emilia Jones), Mickey (Bobby Smalldridge) and Jess (Harriet Turnbull), to leave the house, the couple hit the road, to find themselves in the midst of a congested traffic on their way and so they are forced to stop overnight.
The eldest daughter Lottie expresses her troubles with trusting her parents following their recent separation and with such lies as it is revealed that her father has an affair, which leads to her mother moving out and taking legal proceedings against him.
They are only travelling to the Highlands together to appear as a couple for Gordie, not wanting to upset him in his final months.
On arriving at his rich brother’s mansion, a tense rivalry becomes apparent between the brothers Doug and Gavin, while the old man, despite being extremely ill, is fun-loving and encourages the children, particularly Lottie, to let go of their troubles and enjoy life.
As the preparations for the event are on, the grand father takes the three children to the beach. He reveals that he is descended from Vikings, a fact that Doug’s son in particular is excited about. The old man reveals his desire to be sent off old ‘the Viking way’ by being cremated and then sent out to sea.
Incidentally the grand father dies, while the children are playing on the beach. Despite Lottie’s efforts to inform her parents and elders this bad news, the grown-ups are busy arguing and squabbling among themselves, this young girl treks back to the beach where the three children fulfill their grand father’s last wish. The kids create a raft, and, using petrol from Gordie’s pickup, send him out to sea aflame.
When they return home, break the news to the elders, pandemonium breaks out in the mansion, while even the guests have arrived.
The investigating authorities arrive the scene, interrogate the children as they had set aflame the raft with the dead old man, but finally come to a conclusion that it was just an incident (accident) and decide that the children are innocent.
Towards the end, Gavin and Doug hold a memorial for Gordie at the beach, where they bury hatchet. Abi also declares that she would be keen to work out their problems humanely and Doug and Abi apologise to their children.
What we did on our Holiday has a decent pace, depicts various emotional moments which are maturely sorted out and yes, there are funny moments at various instances which keep the audience involved in the story.
Martin Hawkins’s cinematography is marvellous in that way which shows the picturesque Scottish Highlands and Glasgow which doesn’s overshadow the screenplay, instead it supplements it.
Main characters of this story are the three kids making the journey as hilarious as they innocently reveal the ins and outs of their family life and many intimate details about their parents.
It is a family entertainer, a heart-warming, funny and ultimately uplifting comedy. Rosamund Pike livens up the story with a light-heart family comedy making it a delightful experience with her sheer wit and smile over the family comedy.
For ENALRGED pics, click on the Thumbnails:
Cast:
David Tennant as Doug McLeod
Rosamund Pike as Abi McLeod
Billy Connolly as Gordie McLeod
Celia Imrie as Agnes Chisholm
Ben Miller as Gavin McLeod
Emilia Jones as Lottie McLeod
Amelia Bullmore as Margaret McLeod
Lewis Davie as Kenneth McLeod
Annette Crosbie as Doreen
Credits:
Production Company – BBC Films
Directed by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin
Produced by Norman Merry, Suzanne Reid, Ed Rubin, David M. Thompson, Dan Winch
Written by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin
Music by Alex Heffes
Cinematography – Martin Hawkins
Edited by Steve Tempia, Mark Williams
What we did on our Holiday – Movie review
