How About You...

How About You is an uplifting little film about human interaction, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.

The film centres on the relationship between a young girl left in charge of an old people's home run by her sister. Sweet, funny moments occur, although many are predictable and overdone. The characters transform themselves far too swiftly, so the film loses in credibility. It is, nonetheless, a pleasant watch and an agreeable alternative to typical American romantic comedies.

Redgrave and Staunton deliver excellent performances as usual, but this film definitely wasn't a challenge to either. Atwell (the younger sister) was very much lacking in subtlety, although the fault may lie with the director or writer rather than the actress.

How About You should be watched as a fun way to wind down the day, but not as an example of Vanessa Redgrave and Imelda Staunton showing what they're truly capable of.

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I have just seen How About You at its U.S. premiere as part of the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival. Although there are, as we've grown to expect, beautifully judged performances from Joss Ackland, Brenda Fricker, Imelda Staunton and Vanessa Redgrave, to say nothing of the up-and-coming younger actors, the highlight for me was the performance of Irish actress Joan O'Hara, whom I did not know. Ms O'Hara gave us the most beautiful, sensitive, intelligent face of a very mature woman I have ever seen, a face which the camera seemed to caress in closeup. I was saddened to learn that Joan O'Hara herself died in July 2007 and this may have been her final performance.

A story of four spiteful nursing home residents spending Christmas with a young hippie type of girl as their caregiver.

This overlooked holiday movie gives us some fairly memorable characters, sort of like Grumpy Old People who are stuck in a nursing home during Christmas. The young, pothead caregiver watching over them goes from apathetic to ticked off when they pull their curmudgeon routines on her.

The acting is good, atmosphere and cinematography are spot on, the whole production is as good as any large budget feature. The characters get developed during the movie, from the young girl learning to live her own life and accept some responsibility, to the old folks who learn that they can live a little while they are waiting to die.

There's a lot to like in this movie. It has some genuine holiday spirit and a decent ending. It's hard to say why more people haven't seen it because it is worth watching.

I saw this last month at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival where it was among the 10 films selected as Audience Favorites. It features a great cast of seasoned stage and film veterans as a group of nursing home residents not fondly referred to as "The Hardcore." Well, it isn't actually a nursing home but a posh assisted living retirement home in Ireland's lovely Wicklow area. Kate Harris (Orla Brady) runs the retirement home that she started out of an old estate she bought. Her younger college dropout sister Ellie (Hayley Atwell) needs a place to live for a while so she has moved in to work as a staff member. Christmas is a time where most of the residents leave to spend time at the homes of family members except for a group of four. This dysfunctional bunch cause a lot of problems and keep the home from full residency because potential residents refuse to live under the same roof as them. Donald Vanston (Joss Ackland) was a judge whose alcoholic lifestyle forced him off the bench. Georgia Platts (Vanessa Redgrave) was once a glamorous stage and screen star who has chosen to drop out of society. Hazel Nightengale (Imelda Staunton) and her sister Heather (Brenda Fricker) are two spinster sisters who can't cope with life. Hazel is only 50 and doesn't even belong in a retirement home but can't live away from her domineering older sister Heather. Kate is suddenly called away as Christmas approaches and Ellie is left in charge of the gang of four as all the other residents and staff have left for their Christmas vacations. Additional supporting roles are the late Joan O'Hara in her final screen role as Alice Peterson, Elizabeth Moynihan as the stern Nurse Healey and Darragh Kelly as Mr. Evans, the government's mean retirement home inspector who would like to see the home shut down. Anthony Byrne directs. Jean Pasley adapts the screenplay from a short story by popular Irish writer Maeve Binchy. Veteran cameraman Des Whelan is cinematographer. Nial Byrne provided the music score. This is a good film and it's premise and cast naturally appeals to an older audience but the role of Ellie keeps things pretty hip. I would give this an 8.5 out of 10 and recommend it.

'How About You' is one of those "feel good" films from Ireland (just to let everybody know that we're not just a bunch of gloomy,depressed sods that like a good cry). Anthony Byrne directs a crackerjack cast of seasoned veterans,including Vanessa Redgrave as an over the hill actress (or so she claims),Joss Ackland as a retired judge who's chronic alcoholism brought his career crashing down early,and a cast of other fine actors & actresses playing the residents of a nursing home in the beautiful Irish countryside (filmed mostly in County Wicklow). The story concerns a young woman,who arrives at her older sister's nursing home in need of a place to live & work. As she arrives around Christmas time,most of the residents have already gone home to family, except for a scant handful miserable,cranky residents,who are nick named by the staff as "the hard core". Hayley Atwell shines as Ellie, the obviously pretty,young face,among the resident batch of sour balls, who refuses to put up with their b.s. This film reminded me a lot of the British comedy,'Experience Preferred,But Not Necessary' (which was also about a young lass who goes to work for a Summer holiday resort in the English seaside coast). If you like a light,refreshing,breezy comedy that will make you smile as you exit,then 'How About You',from 2007 may just be your cup of tea. Not rated,but contains profanity & drug humour.