Synopsis
Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which he can probably escape. He convinces the governor to stage a musical in an old chapel next to the prison's outer wall. He rounds up volunteer actors and puts his escape plan into production. Two other barriers, besides the wall, confront him: the arrival of a nasty inmate, John Toombes, who insists on joining the escape, and Jimmy's feelings of attraction for Anabel, a social worker who agrees to appear in the play. Opening night approaches: is this Jimmy's breakout performance?
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Cast
- James NesbittJames 'Jimmy' Hands
- Olivia WilliamsAnnabel
- Timothy SpallCliff
- Christopher PlummerGraham Mortimer
- Bill NighyRoger
- Lennie JamesRudy
- Ron CookPerry
- Peter WightGeorge Barratt
- Celia ImrieAmy
- Raymond WaringDarren
Recommendations
- 80
Washington Post
Apart from the deja vu all over again, Lucky Break is no worse a film than "Breaking Out," and "Breaking Out" was utterly charming. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
There is not much here that comes as a blinding plot revelation, but the movie has a raffish charm and good-hearted characters, and like "The Full Monty" it makes good use of the desperation beneath the comedy. - 70
Film Threat
Overall, it's good, not great. - 60
Village Voice
Mike Leigh mainstay Timothy Spall deftly shades in the designated goner, fellow "Still Crazy" alum Bill Nighy is sweetly wispy as the capable fop, and anger-management counselor Olivia Williams trembles pleasantly as usual. - 50
The A.V. Club
The big musical setpiece, rife with possibilities for humor and uplift, needed to be funnier and more energetic than the half-hearted lyrics and choreography bother to muster. - 50
New Times (L.A.)
This is mostly well-constructed fluff, which is all it seems intended to be. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
Neither the appealing cast nor the bouncing, ska-inflected soundtrack can keep the party going. - 33
Entertainment Weekly
Every porridgy inmate in this instantly forgettable romp warbles in the prison's amateur musical, and one of them demonstrates a rather extreme devotion to the tomatoes he grows in the on-site greenhouse.
