I don’t know if I would have been quite so anxious to see this movie, or if I would have liked it as much, if Lesley Manville was not playing Mrs. Harris, but fortunately she was.
An unlikely confluence of events happen to and around Mrs. Harris that seem to add up to an unlikely scenario of her saving money to buy the Dior dress, such as her winning the football pools (lottery). But science fiction and superhero movies would not exist if we all insisted upon realistic stories, so I had no issue suspending my disbelief.
It is a sweet film, and sometimes I need one of those to offset the dramas and hard-luck characters in many movies (those “realistic” plots). It features a fine ensemble cast, most of whom I didn’t recognize from other British productions but who did well.
So I am sure I will watch the movie again someday. I have to laugh looking at a few 1-star reviews on another website. Just for kicks I checked the other reviews by those angry viewers (I mean 1-star instead of say, 4 stars? Really?). One of them only had 1-star reviews, about 30 of them, which makes me question whether they even wtatched them, and another didn’t watch a single other movie that I have seen, so I guess there is a reason they disagree with me so strongly. But I am sure you are not so judgmental, so give it a try.