My biggest praise for this film is for the performances of Maggie Smith and Alan Jennings, who brought to life their characters extremely well. Smith shines as the eccentric and cantankerous Miss Shepherd who has a troubled past, whilst Jennings is also brilliant as Alan Bennett with his sharp wit and intellect providing for some funny moments. The relationship that builds between them is developed very effectively.
However, I do have many problems with the narrative, mainly that it doesn't amount to much with so little actually happening in the story. I found it very hard to be engaged when most of it singly revolved around the interactions between Smith and Jennings with very little else going on. Also, learning about Miss Shepherd's past could have been quite intriguing but it just leads to some rather underwhelming reveals at the end with little deeper exploration into how she became the person she is.
In the end I found this to be quite average, not terrible by any means, but not something I will ever have the inclination to watch again.
However, I do have many problems with the narrative, mainly that it doesn't amount to much with so little actually happening in the story. I found it very hard to be engaged when most of it singly revolved around the interactions between Smith and Jennings with very little else going on. Also, learning about Miss Shepherd's past could have been quite intriguing but it just leads to some rather underwhelming reveals at the end with little deeper exploration into how she became the person she is.
In the end I found this to be quite average, not terrible by any means, but not something I will ever have the inclination to watch again.