Greatest Days Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 52 minutes, Director – Coky Giedroyc

Four friends (Aisling Bea, Jayde Adams, Amaka Okafor, Alice Lowe) reunite after 25 years apart to attend a concert of their favourite boy group from their teenage years, however rifts of their pasts are still present

Both Mamma Mia films so far undoubtedly get a good deal of their energy from the crowbarring of ABBA songs into the plot. There’s a slight joy in seeing just what the next song will be, and how it’s going to be worked in to the moment, with the entire cast clearly having a ball. The songs may only have slight relevance to the moment, but more often than not we run with it. As a jukebox musical of Take That songs the same cannot be said for Greatest Days where perhaps one word of certain songs feels lazily crammed in to certain scenes. There may be more but the lack of energy with which some musical numbers are delivered with simply leads to a lack of interest.

As our four central characters (Aisling Bea, Jayde Adams, Amaka Okafor, Alice Lowe) reunite after 25 years ready to fly in glamorous style the boarding area is filled with dancers. The group are about to jet off to see their favourite boy group from their teenage years in Athens after Rachel (Bea) has won an extremely unrealistic prize for a (presumably) community radio station to be giving away. Champagne flows in their minds as the pilot in a sparkly hat and jacket, making him look like the Megabus man dunked in sequins, sings about how their time is coming “don’t be late (hey hey)”. That’s right, for them the whole world is going to shine. Unless it’s in this musical number set against the backdrop of an easyJet plane. The whole sequence is so lacking and tacky that it could genuinely be an advert for the company.

Songs are forced in with little relevance with each one becoming more and more tiring. There’s certainly a narrative here but not one that truly grips you. When we get close to properly engaging – one particular moment towards the closing stages involving Rachel looking back on her childhood comes to mind – the film starts back up with a song, even if just one line, to knock what it’s built up back down again. While some of the renditions are fine others feel strange and almost otherworldly. As Greatest Day itself is drawn out it seems that most of the Greek residents performing it line by line can’t quite sing – some of the few figures seemingly not assisted by autotune – although themselves seem to question in the moment the relevance of some of the lines aside from the actual point of it possibly being the greatest day of the character’s lives. In general songs simply feel used to lengthen scenes and base ideas before moving on to the next point.

When drama finally properly comes in after exploring the teenage connection with ‘The Boys’ in various flashbacks it all feels a bit late. Arguments seem to come from nowhere – aside from some early hesitation and estrangement before the partying begins – just at the point where all care for what’s happening seems to have disappeared. Things don’t quite become frustrating – although I did raise an eyebrow at a handful of details throughout, such as the group taking selfies by a fountain with the phone screen off, or simply sighing when the point of certain songs is revealed – they just never quite feel carved out, or joyful, enough to truly engage and bring you in to the story which is attempting to slowly unfold.

Writer Tim Finch, creator of stage musical The Band on which the film is inspired by, appears to want to focus on the core narrative of the quartet of distant friends reuniting. However, the film appears to want to focus on the music of Take That without ever quite getting the right tone. Neither celebrating it or getting caught up in it – the people who seem to love it the most are the sixteen-year-old versions of the central figures, so in love with the group that they want to have their “sweat baby”. In the end it feels as if hopes and intentions are tangled up and the final piece isn’t quite sure what it wants to be, or who it’s meant to be for.

The more Greatest Days goes on the more it loses its shine. Tangled focuses on narrative or music create a clash with the flood of songs never quite seeming to fit the moment, and the film needing more patience before jumping into the next underwhelming number.

★★