Dad's Army (2016)

The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.

Director:

Oliver Parker

Writers:

David Croft (original series), Hamish McColl (screenplay)

Stars:

Mark Tandy, Russell Balogh, Andrew Havill

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mark Tandy	...	Major Cunningham
Russell Balogh	...	Lundt (as Russell Balough)
Andrew Havill	...	Captain Meeks
Heinz	...	The Pigeon
Emily Atack	...	Daphne
Daniel Mays	...	Walker
Toby Jones	...	George Mainwaring
Blake Harrison	...	Frank Pike
Michael Gambon	...	Godfrey
Bill Nighy	...	Arthur Wilson
Bill Paterson	...	Frazer
Tom Courtenay	...	Jones
Bertie	...	The Bull
Nigel Launder	...	Farmer
Oliver Tobias	...	Canaris

Storyline

The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.

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Taglines:

"You have met your match with us"

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Universal Pictures

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az ükhadsereg

Filming Locations:

High Street,Old Town, Bridlington, Yorkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

DJ Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bill Nighy's role was played on the television series by John Le Mesurier. Le Mesurier played Bilbo Baggins in the BBC Radio broadcast of The Lord of the Rings, in which Nighy played Sam Gamgee.

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Goofs

During the opening scene on the train. The newspaper being read by the seated lady shows the incorrect weekday for the date shown. April 15th 1944 was a Saturday.

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Quotes

Arthur Wilson: At the double, Mr Godfrey! If you'd be so kind.

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Crazy Credits

There are outtakes and bloopers during the credits.

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Connections

References Long John Silver (1954)

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Soundtracks

Auf Wiedersehen Mr Hitler
Composed by Charlie Mole
Additional lyrics by Oliver Parker

User Reviews

Badly written, dull and simply not funny

When news first emerged of a Dad's Army film early last year, the main cry from the fans and general public alike was 'but why?'. Unfortunately, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the end product does absolutely nothing to alter this.

Beautiful German spy Rose Winters (Zeta-Jones) comes into a small town to gather information for the Nazis, blinds everyone with her looks, manipulates them to her bidding while everyone runs around suspecting everyone else but her of undercover nefariousness. Yes, it really is that derivative. It's a plot that could have been lifted lock, stock from a hundred TV movies produced from 1960 until 1980, but tellingly probably none since.

It's obvious that a lot of thought has been put in to casting as every character is perfectly shaped to match his respective character from the original series, and every one really tries to do as good a job as possible. Admittedly Bill Nighy is incapable of playing anyone other than Bill Nighy but it works as bumbling Oxford boy Sergeant Wilson, Toby Jones is almost indistinguishable from Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, Tom Courtenay does a fair Clive Dunn impression and Gambon was born to play Godfrey. But casting alone does not a film make.

At its core, the original Dad's Army series was little more than a bunch of men in a church hall bickering with each other, the different character's unique and exaggerated qualities carefully weaving a different angle into the argument and comedy as a whole. That can, and very successfully did, work for thirty minutes, but clearly it's another thing entirely to treble the running time and expect it to still function at the desired level. So the writers, as is customary, took the whole thing out of its comfort zone with a more (supposedly) extensive plot. The problem is that the plot, script and dialogue are all utterly dreadful. It is simply not funny, nor is it interesting. At no point do you care one jot what happens to the characters or the storyline. Stir in a complete lack of humour and you're left with a hollow shell of a movie that drags along and leaves you feeling utterly cheated. It manages to lack fun, pace, spirit and perhaps most surprisingly of all, nostalgia.

It's good that the home front's respective wives get some screen- time, particularly Mrs Mainwaring who was never more than a sullen passing reference in the series, but it still doesn't help.

The film is littered with tired innuendos that are seemingly delivered at times with embarrassment, and the occasional poorly timed moments of slapstick are cringe worthy. It's telling that the outtakes at the end of the movie are far funnier than anything in the film itself, although most of the audience will have rapidly headed for the exit by then like home fans fleeing a drubbing from a local rival.

Is Dad's Army a missed opportunity or an inevitable disappointment? It's difficult to care. Either way it's badly written, dull and simply not funny.