Poster hero

Looking for Eric
15, Nationwide

It is all a bit erratic, tonally, as if the film can’t decide if it wants to be serious or not and, as a result, it never feels cohesively whole. In fact, the sub-plot to do with the teenage boys and their involvement with a local gangster actually feels as if a different film altogether has been tacked on. And even though the Eric and Lily relationship should be at the heart of it all, I just didn’t get it. How come they appear to have rarely met or talked over the years when they live round the corner from each other and have obviously raised their daughter jointly? How does that work? A small detail, you might say, and you might well be right, but it certainly ate away at me. As for the finale, and its heart-warming message about the value of family and community, oh, behave.

Look, this is no disaster. You will love John Henshaw as Eric’s fellow postie Meatballs. Steve Evets — what is his middle name, I wonder; Bob? — is convincing. Cantona is Cantona, and who would want anything else? There are some fun male friendship scenes. But this is a deliberate ‘feelgood’ movie and, while I didn’t feel bad, I just didn’t feel much of anything. It’s simply OK-ish.