Military Wives: Formulaic Dramedy from Full Monty Director Pleasant but Dull
By Liam Lacey
Rating: C+
Back in 1997, The Full Monty set off a chain of modestly budgeted English comedy-dramas about down-on-their-luck English working-class folk pulling together and doing something plucky and inspiring. That film’s director, Peter Cattaneo, is also in charge of Military Wives, about the birth of the military wives’ choirs, a British charitable phenomenon than involves 75 women’s choirs in the United Kingdom and on British bases around the world.
Set on the fictional Flitcroft Barracks, the film starts about a decade ago on the eve of a fresh deployment to Afghanistan. Across the base, there are packed bags and tight-lipped goodbyes as men disappear from the base to the war. The next day, there is a new directive from HQ, ordered by a skeptical male officer (Jason Fleming), to do something to relieve the spouse’s anxiety while their men folk are off fighting in Afghanistan. Soon after, two of the wives are called to a meeting.
The Colonel’s spouse, the snooty and blue-blooded Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas) has decided to get involved, which sets her on a collision course with Lisa (Irish actress/writer Sharon Horgan, who created the Amazon series, Catastrophe).
Lisa’s the scrappy wife of the regimental sergeant-major, manager of the base’s general store and mother of rebellious teen daughter, who wants to keep the job simple. The activities consist of morning coffee and the occasional potluck dinner, where everyone brings a dish and “everyone gets drunk” but Kate, who promises to help, soon commandeers the entire operation.
Kate’s first move is to “brainstorm” for new ideas (book club, knitting, film club, needlepoint). The group reluctantly settles on “singing.” Kate’s initial attempts to turn them into a traditional choir leads Lisa to declare, “If you really think singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ with a pole up your arse is what the women need, you’re more out of touch than I thought.”
Differences are set aside as they settle on a repertoire of pop music, though there are a few snags, including one singer who is blissfully and loudly out of tune, balanced by a pathologically shy young mom (Gaby French) with angelic pipes. And, because this is the military, there’s a streaky stream of news from the front and, eventually, tragedy.
Scriptwriters Roseanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard jam a lot into the last act, bringing the conflict between Lisa and Kate to a head just in time for a Remembrance Day performance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Military Wives’ broad manipulations are predictably cringe-worthy but, typical of the Monty genre, are partly ameliorated by the liveliness of its performances. Horgan in particular as the fed-up, foul-mouthed Lisa, carves a swath through the first half of the film, while Scott Thomas assumes the emotional burden of the ice-queen’s meltdown in the later scenes. Otherwise, Military Wives is as formulaic as a drill parade.
Military Wives. Directed by Peter Cattaneo. Written by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan. Available May 22 on demand.