DVD review: Golden years (3 out of 5)

We do seem to create these movies with a certain style.

It does help, of course, having an amazing pool of talented actors to call on.

And Golden Years certainly has an incredible cast.

Bernard Hill, Virginia McKenna, Simon Callow, Sue Johnston, Una Stubbs, Phil Davis, Alun Armstrong - any director would be salivating at the thought of having such people on hand.

And director John Miller is certainly lucky as this was his first major project.

Also heavily involved was TV presenter Nick Knowles, who shared the writing and production credits.

Hill plays Arthur, a kindly pensioner who is looking after his wife (McKenna) who has health problems.

His world is turned upside down, though, when he discovers a financial crash has decimated his pension pot.

Faced with trying to pay for his wife’s treatment and realising his friends are similarly cash-strapped he decides to ‘take back what he’s owed’, courtesy of robbing the odd bank or two.

While there are some dubious moral dilemmas raised, the accent is on humour.

We have a workaholic policeman (Armstrong) and his frustrated wife (Johnston) and the up and coming detective Stringer (Brad Moore) who is too clever for his own good.

While the jokes are unlikely to have you falling off your seat, this is a good family bit of fun that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

DVD Specs:

RRP: £17.99

Cat. No: HFR0423

Run time: 96 mins

Cert: 12A