'Cemetery Junction' limited by disappointing script

Directors: Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant

Cast: Christian Cooke, Ricky Gervais, Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Jack Doolan, Tom Hughes

Ricky Gervais, with his writing partner on 'The Office', tags this film as his first move away from comedy into drama, and it might well be that his reputation as an original and inventive writer of funny scripts hampers us from seeing him as anything else.

It actually does deliver laughs, but they seem unintentional and in the end the film is a disappointment.

The story is about coming-of-age and escaping to something better, in this case from the Cemetery Junction dead-end and not falling into working in the local factory.

Freddie (Cooke) has ambitions and joins the insurance company run by Fiennes, fancies his daughter who is going with the hot-shot salesman and strives for that big break along with friends (Doolan and Hughes).

The cast is largely unknown and does well with what is a limited script with a limited outlook.

Star Rating: 3/5