Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan saddled with a by-the-numbers script in a well-meaning but hackneyed Brit flick
A military wives choir film without Gareth Malone? Isn’t that like The Witches of Eastwick without Jack Nicholson? Here is a fantasy-realist dramedy version of The Choir: Military Wives – the 2011 special edition of the
BBC documentary series about empowering local communities through singing. It went out over three episodes, and brought together wives from five
UK barracks, whose partners were away in
Afghanistan, culminating in a moving performance at the Festival of Remembrance at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
This movie imagines a choir of military wives who miraculously achieve the same thing without the intensive professional help. Malone’s directorial/confessional role is fictionally devolved to two of the wives in charge: posh uptight Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas) and laidback but cynical Lisa (Sharon Horgan), who quarrel a lot about how to make the choir work but wind up learning from each other and becoming best friends.