This charming
film is not entirely what you might expect from Armando Iannucci whose reputation
was made with dark comedic satire. Yet he has breathed life into this venerable
tale giving it a contemporary spin only inasmuch as to show how identifiable a
story it actually is. If for some reason you had no idea this was based on a
book you might think it was penned recently as there’s nothing here that smells
musty or old. Quite the contrary in fact- this adaptation is as fresh and enjoyable
as run on the Yarmouth beach which provides one of its locales. But don’t
accuse the director- who also co-writes with Simon Blackwell - of going soft as
there is always a harder edge where Dickens is concerned.
