What We Did on Our Holiday

“What We Did On Our Holiday” dissects family life also applying it with funny dark British humor and adult situations. The film makes it look like a cliche’d drama and there are aspects of it but then it goes in another direction, were glad it didn’t go into the wrong and dumb cliche’d direction because if it did this movie would be dumb; the film is not dumb or cliche’d, it’s an enormous heartwarmer that’ll steal your hearts and move you, and make you laugh at the silly stuff that’s these characters are doing. Doug (David Tennant) and Abi (Rosamund Pike) take their three children to Scotland, to celebrate his dad Gordy (played by Billy Connolly) turning seventy-five. At the midst of their divorce, Doug and Abi want their children to keep a secret and not tell their extended family. When the feud kicks in, it’s takes an unexpected events involving with the children, causes further tensions to rise to the service. The family has to put away their differences and work together or else losing what they hold. The writing and directing team Hamilton and Jenkin (creators of Outnumbered) craft together a joyful and emotional story onto film while the supporting cast is making great performances trying to portray these characters. It’s the best British comedy I have this year, since Paddington. Go see this movie! You’ll love the characters and love watching these stars portray the characters. What also is great is the child actors are self improvised in this movie while giving some star-making performances. Grade A

What We Did On Our Holiday is an exceedingly funny comedy that definitely borders on Black Comedy but still tinkers in the realm of being light hearted. It has a very kind of Outnumbered feel to it in which the kids play their innocent, yet brilliantly irritating (to others not the audience) questions and resolutions. The cast provides an exceptional performance both in the way of being dramatically emotional and hysterically funny. The films subject matter is quite bleak and possibly disturbing at times but it portrays it in such a kind of optimistic way and gives of a feel of genuine care towards all the issues the film brings up. Rosamund Pike and David Tennant work brilliantly with each other, Billy Connolly play his typical fun loving and wise role as per usual, Ben Miller plays his role to perfection and the kids easily rival (and probably best) those from Outnumbered. The eldest child however, who has obviously meant to kind of be the moral anchor within all the carnage that was happening, was actually a bit more annoying but that may not have been her fault as she got hardly any of the jokes. Also, due to the fact she seems like she’s trying to act but not really achieving it doesn’t help, but still you can’t really give much hate to child actors. Overall, an incredibly funny black comedy with an optimistic outlook and carefully dealt with subject matter. Definitely something to watch. 8/10