... good-natured confection, filled with breezy humor and heartfelt relationships ...
Calendar Girls (2003)
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Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:87
Rotten:30
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: A charming, but cliched comedy reminiscent of The Full Monty.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for nudity, some language and drug-related material
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Dec 19, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $30,937,521
Synopsis: Based on a true story, Nigel Cole's CALENDAR GIRLS has a mix of comedy and heart-tugging emotion that compares with British comedies FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and THE FULL MONTY. Annie (Julie... Based on a true story, Nigel Cole's CALENDAR GIRLS has a mix of comedy and heart-tugging emotion that compares with British comedies FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and THE FULL MONTY. Annie (Julie Walters) and Chris (Helen Mirren), of bucolic Yorkshire, belong to the Women's Institute (WI), which preserves traditional homemaking practices. While they're just as dedicated as the other ladies in the group, Annie and Chris are adventurous personalities, and they poke fun at the WI's tedious lectures on broccoli and fabrics. In an effort to raise money for the local hospital while also spicing things up at the WI, the ladies decide to put a new spin on the WI calendar, which usually depicts landscapes or churches. The women will pose nude for the calendar while performing traditional activities like baking and gardening. It's no surprise that the finished calendar is a wild success, bringing the ladies instant notoriety and adoration. Stellar talent carries the story, especially from glorious Mirren, who portrays yet another daring female character, as she did in past films like THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE, AND HER LOVER. Staying true to the real-life story, the film closely matches the original calendar photos, and provides a funny, touching, uplifting tale. [More]
Starring: Helen Mirren, Julie Waters, John Alderton, Linda Bassett
Starring: Helen Mirren, Julie Waters, John Alderton, Linda Bassett, Annette Crosbie, Philip Glenister, Ciaran Hinds, Geraldine James, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie
Director: Nigel Cole
Director: Nigel Cole
Screenwriter: Tim Firth, Juliette Towhidi
Producer: Suzanne Mackie, Nick Barton
Composer: Patrick Doyle
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
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Release:
May 4, 2004
Reviews for Calendar Girls
The story is simple, but effective, and a pleasant and charming diversion.
Helen Mirren, so grim and dour in recent roles in "Gosford Park" and "Prime Detective," is positively mischievous!
Unlike the flowers and the women of Yorkshire, Calendar Girls hits its stride early on, and goes to seed well before we can enjoy its full bloom.
There's a good time to be had watching "Calendar Girls," but...formulaic fictional plot points drag terribly on the movie's clever humor.
Proves Hollywood isn't the only moviemaking factory that can turn an inspirational real-life tale into a generic product.
The never-naughty Calendar Girls is as easy to take as it is because director Nigel Cole avoids the hard sell.
Calendar Girls remains true to the spirit of the engaging, real-life story which captured the attention of many around the world.
There's a terrific comedy buried somewhere here about moral hypocrisy and community panic, but it never fully emerges.
A pleasant reminder that real women do, in fact, exist -- complete with hard-earned wrinkles and breasts low from feeding babies -- even if only in British films.
It's actually not bad, or at least it isn't until it takes a weird detour into 'price of fame' issues.
Calendar Girls may be boomer-baiting formula, but this ingratiating, big-hearted holiday treat is as British as plum pudding -- and the closest thing on the market to the famous Ealing comedies.
Calendar Girls will leave you with that exuberant smile you wore after The Full Monty.
Calendar Girls is The Full Monty for women, with the same regular-folk approach to storytelling and the same entertaining and endearing qualities.
[Mirren and Walters] have the moxie and art to make you forget -- at least for stretches -- the very wobbly contrivance of the story around them.
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