Second time around with this third (cinematically-released) feature from Mike Leigh. The cast is again great. The story is diffuse, touching on a few too many aspects of late Thatcherite London for the runtime. Alison Steadman works hard in the lead, married to Jim Broadbent, mothering apprentice plumber Claire Skinner and off-the-rails Jane Horrocks. So weird to see David Thewlis so young as Horrocks's boy toy. Timothy Spall got the zany character (c.f. Heather Tobias in High Hopes (1988)), not the centred bloke (c.f. Secrets and Lies (1996)). Stephen Rea, generic drunken shyster.
Roger Ebert: four stars (and a few clangers!). A Critic's Pick by Vincent Canby.
