No role here is an original, no conflict in this movie is a novelty. But all the leads do their job so very well, topped by Celia Imrie, who's as charming as ever, and still does the best naughty sparkle in the eyes I've seen. And I've come to realize that that's what really important - if the actors do their job well and one learn to care for the characters they portray - the movie will work. It may not be a masterpiece, it doesn't pretend it is - a line I used before because I don't mind whether it's a masterpiece or not, I want to see a story about characters I care for.
And one more point I've made before - it's not really a comedy - it's a life story and like most life stories it does have funny moments. Funny moment don't mean one is watching a comedy and "comedy drama" - the IMDb classification term - is as far as I'm concerned - a non term. I've watched many so called "comedy dramas" non of them was really a comedy. A few funny moments means you have a writer with a sense of humor, that's good, a sense of humor is an important ingredient of our lives - it doesn't make our lives a comedy it just makes our lives more real and relatable.