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Though it relies on a cliched storyline and stock characters, How About You gets winning performances from Vanessa Redgrave and Imelda Staunton. Read critic reviews
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Where to watch How About You
Rent How About You on Amazon Prime Video, or buy it on Amazon Prime Video.
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Movie Info
When Kate (Orla Brady) is called away from the retirement home she runs to take care of her mother, she is forced to leave her rebellious little sister, Ellie (Hayley Atwell), in charge of the four residents who are staying at the home over holiday break. These four are nicknamed "the hardcore" because of their mean-spirited ways, and they quickly try to break Ellie of her happy-go-lucky demeanor. But both "the hardcore" and Ellie soon discover that they can learn a lot from each other.
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Genre: Comedy, Drama
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Original Language: English
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Director: Anthony Byrne
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Producer: Noel Pearson, Sarah Radclyffe
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Writer: Jean Pasley
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Release Date (Theaters): limited
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $77.6K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Strand
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for How About You
Audience Reviews for How About You
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I don't think I have much to say about this movie. It certainly has a good enough cast and a decent script. But it is a little sentimental for my tastes and it handles its characters with kid gloves and I found the whole story of these 4 cantankerous old people, whose misbehaving has caused nurses to quit and other people to moved out of the house, becoming as close as a family and completely changing their lives around for the better to be a little contrived and farfetched. It'd be a good story if told a longer period of time and if the characters were a little more complex. But I understand that that wasn't the film's intended purpose. It was supposed to be a feel-good, Christmas-y movie for the entire family. So I get that, but the movie is probably too sweet for my liking. Still, it's a solid movie with a very good cast that makes up for the script's shortcomings.
jesse o Super Reviewer -
Cast: Joss Ackland, Hayley Atwell, Orla Brady, Brenda Fricker, Elizabeth Moynihan, Joan O'Hara, Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton Director: Anthony Byrne Summary: When the manager of a retirement home in the Irish countryside asks her younger sister, Ellie (Hayley Atwell), to run the facility during the holidays, four mischievous residents take advantage of the power vacuum and turn the place upside down. As Ellie learns to take charge, the residents also come to terms with their own troubles. My Thoughts: "I found it to be a charming, quirky, funny little dramedy. Loved the characters and their interactions with each other. It's well acted with some great aged actors. I love old people, especially when their feisty and quirky like this bunch. But near the end it gets very sentimental which was very sweet to watch as they come together and unite as a family. It was a great little film to help pass the time."
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very cliche and the "message" just about hits you over the head - but there are moments of pure joy; as when the 4 oldsters toddle to the picture window to see their young "keeper" tell off her jerk boyfriend. There is certainly no new ground broken here, and the last third lays it on a bit too thick, but just watching Redgrave channeling Peter O'Toole is amazing - every nuance and twinkle in her eye was EXACTLY what was called for. Just watching a true master makes this film a worthwhile watch. But there is more - a beautiful scene that seems to come right out of a Maxfield Parrish print - very 3d, with overhanging trees framing a gently rolling river - to which a dying "inmate" gets wheeled by our heroine. A wonderful line comes just before this, when the dying woman asks to see the river one more time before she passes; she complains that the in house nurse won't let her go for she'll "catch her death". She smiles wanly and says "I think it's death that's catching me". The final analysis is that this is tried and true story, but by managing to stay within itself for the most part, the humanity comes through easily - that and watching Redgrave weave her spell - makes you want to hoist a gin martini in her honor.
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Indeed, this film suffocates under cliche and its corpse is peed on by predictability. Likeable turns by Vanessa Redgrave, Joss Ackland, and Imelda Staunton notwithstanding, this movie had very little meat to offer. One positive, I'll grant it, is the ever-precious sense of camaraderie that can develop from a motley assortment, and Hayley Atwell, spunking her way out of proper acting, led this group to whiff that nourishing core of 'group likeability.' But undone by the total lack of surprise and a paltry script - as well as not at all buying that all these middle-aged folks know the words to "How About You," I kind of want to leave this movie behind. And unlike Hayley Atwell's trite protag, I don't intend to return.
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