Last Orders

Many a time has a cinemagoer been presented with the dilemma of spending an evening down the pub with fond friends or going to see the latest film on a Friday night. Last Orders presents the perfect compromise between the two, with the prospect of spending two hours in the boozer with Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, David Hemmings, Ray Winstone and Tom Courtney.

The story focuses on how the family butcher's (Michael Caine) friends remember him after his death. Through a heavy dose of the tried-and-tested flashback formula we see his life over a period of 50 years from his youth as a cotton picking Jude Law look-a-like to the Caine we know and love, and how the relationships between the five friends have developed through affairs, fights, denial, separation and, of course, masses of booze. These recollections are threaded around a journey to scatter his ashes at the pier at Margate.

Director Fred Schepsi makes Last Orders a serenely paced affair, with few twists or surprises thrown in across the massive time-span covered. What this allows is a realistic sense of camaraderie between the characters to appear as scenes slowly play out in bars across the years. The meaty British thespian talent on show clearly enjoys the chance to show their chops with a decent script and quality actors to work with. Ray Winstone's portrayal of Caine's alienated son allows the actor to show his less- seen sensitive side, whilst David Hemmings' brandy-soaked performance and outlandish eyebrows are particularly memorable.

More than anything the film has the feel of a distant memory of a particularly drunken evening being retold by a friend. The jokes don't seem quite as funny as they clearly were at the time and the seismic events seem more common place than people's reactions would have indicated. But more than anything a true sense of warmth and compassion comes across, and it is difficult not to empathise with the characters.

Last Orders is unlikely to set pulses racing, but the average cinemagoer's extreme fondness for the magnificent cast allows it to escape death by dry worthiness and become an enjoyably down to earth pleasure that will leave you sad to be heading home on your own when the credits roll.

David Goody