Their Finest

Based on a novel by Lissa Evans, Their Finest follows several WWII-era filmmakers as they attempt produce a morale-booasting propaganda picture – with their efforts consistently (and predictably) confounded by a series of frustrating complications. It’s immediately clear that filmmaker Lone Scherfig, along with scripter Gaby Chiappe, isn’t looking to cultivate an atmosphere of subtlety here, as Their Finest, from its opening minutes, has been suffused with an overly polished feel that’s been geared towards the lowest common denominator – with Scherfig’s increasingly desperate efforts at cultivating a feel-good vibe growing more and more unpleasant (and distracting) as time progresses. There’s little doubt, too, that the movie’s wholly uninvolving nature is compounded by a series of bland lead performances, with, especially, Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin unable to infuse their respectively one-dimensional characters with anything even resembling energy or charisma. (It’s a situation that’s compounded by a third-act emphasis on the pair’s almost hilariously lifeless romance.) And while some of the behind-the-scenes stuff on the film shoot is admittedly interesting, Their Finest‘s total lack of momentum results in a narrative that lurches from one dull, padded-out set-piece to the next – which ensures that Scherfig’s eventual efforts at transforming the movie into a full-fledged tearjerker fall hopelessly flat. It’s ultimately difficult to envision a less effective treatment of somewhat promising material, with Scherfig’s slick, by-the-numbers approach inevitably rendering the movie’s few positive attributes utterly moot (eg a typically charismatic performance by Bill Nighy).

* out of ****