Greatest Days

I know most musicals are contrived and cheesy and provide broad stroke entertainment, and I enjoy a good jukebox musical where you are already familiar with the songs, but with the good ones you don't notice how cheesy they are because you're having such a good time. With Greatest Days I was always aware of it's contrivance as the thinly plotted and poorly scripted story is fabricated just enough to shoe horn in some favourite Take That songs from their back catalogue set to a backdrop of friendship, adolescence, tragedy and sexual awakening.

Based on the original stage musical The Band written by Tim Firth we follow a group of friends, going backwards and forwards in time from their teenage years in the early 90's to where they are now in their lives, who get together in Athens 25 years after their first concert to attend a reunion show. Aisling Bea is always watchable and does her best with the material and Marc Wootton provides some much needed comic relief but the casting of the 5 female friends never quite come together.

Feeling like a low budget Mamma Mia! (2008) it lacks exuberance, satisfactorily choreographed dance numbers and an overall feel good factor. The problem lay with the treatment of some of the songs. Many have been re-imagined and reworked, too much for my liking, as we get a hint of a song here, and a hint of a song there and it often falls short of giving us spectacularly executed dance routines to some of their most anthemic tunes. It does however finally pick up in the last 10 minutes or so, which is probably how the whole film should have been, but it's too little too late.

I don't mind a thinly plotted story if you can believe in it but I didn't really care enough about the characters or the plot line and the pseudo Take That members who keep springing up known as The Band (or The Boys as is often said in the movie) who exist in Aisling Bea's head are frankly a rather annoying plot device to get the songs crowbarred into the proceedings. You yearn for the real Take That to appear (and they do in a nice cameo as buskers on board a train) or to enjoy a song in it's entirety but sadly it takes about 90 minutes to really get going. The sentiment doesn't always land and neither does some of the wit or camaraderie between the friends that often feels a little forced rather than being naturally charming.

I thought at least half way in I'd be singing along, tapping my feet and having a great time but it just doesn't take off. Sadly it's a missed opportunity and it won't be the greatest day of your life watching this. Personally I enjoyed the earlier jukebox Take That musical Never Forget that was simpler in execution but much more engaging.

Greatest days is THE OFFICIAL!!! Take That musical as it says in bold at the top of the poster. It's official and yet they couldn't get the rights to use the bands official name in the film instead they are referred to as the boys (Amazon trying to use this film to sell a certain tv show maybe? ) . Whilst it maybe doesn't sound like the biggest deal in the world it does make the film feel in a word cheap and that's how I'd described this film in general if I had to sum it up in one word. Produced by Amazon studios greatest days tells the story of Rachel (Aisling Bea) who is 'the boys' biggest fan (self proclaimed). After winning a radio competition for her and four friends to see 'the boys' perform live in Athens on their reunion tour, she must now decide who to take with her. Que lengthy flashback to the 90's when conveniently 'the boys' were at the height of their fame and teenage Rachel and her 5 best friends (also massive fans of the boys) get the chance to see their favourite boys live for the first time. I'm sure you've already worked it out by now but the film is about re-kindling your teenage years, getting back together with old friends and re living the good times all alongside the music of 'the boys'.

The story itself is actually quite enjoyable however it is low budget and this means it misses that wow factor you get from the better jukebox movie musicals like my personal favourite Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody. There aren't any real stand out moments and while I've focused on the budget I think the other bigger and less talked about issue is, are Take That a big enough band with iconic enough songs that warrant a movie musical? This will of course depend on your personal musical preferences however I don't personally think so. Whilst I think most people would recognise a few of their songs they're simply nowhere near as big as Elton John or Queen and this adds to that lack of memorable moments. Overall the cast do a good job and they try and cram all your favourite 'the boys' tracks in at one moment or another all performed by some interesting interpretations of younger members of the band, I mean squint and maybe they're passable impressions.

It's watchable but there isn't enough here to keep you coming back for good.

Greatest Days is a new music, drama, comedy directed by Coky Giedroyc. She has further directed more various TV series episodes and miniseries and TV movies.

Five friends used to have the best night of their lives when they went to the concert of their favorite boy band together. Over the years, however, the five have lost contact with each other, so that their mutual bond has become less.

When one of them wins tickets to the reunion concert of their former favorite Boyband, she tries to get the five back together to relive the best moment of their past with this concert.

The people behind this film tried to get production from a large film studio for this film, so that they could then also cast well-known actors. Unfortunately, none of the major film studios showed interest in the project. For example, the people behind this film project had to manage the financial affairs more themselves, which meant that they had to simplify some things and drop other ideas. The Boyband Take That, for example, where it is about in the film, and the band members are not mentioned by name, to save costs and legal problems.

Still, the film may seem familiar to fans of Take That or other bands or singers. The film responds so well to how Boyband or other artist groups used to and still manage to attract fans with their music and styles. Fans of past or modern artist groups can relate to how the movie characters behave because of their fandom they have with the particular Boyband in the movie.

Thanks to the lower budget, the cast members of this film are also more TV actors, but fortunately they still come across as friends and fans of the same Boyband. The film only starts more in the past, where the characters were still young. If they suddenly make a time jump later in the film after the now, where the same characters are suddenly older, it can take some getting used to because of how the characters have changed.

It had its moments and the highlight was probably I WANT YOU BACK it was the moment when the song and story came together .

There have been some amazing musicals

There have been some amazing jukebox movies

The highlight and the benchmark is undoubtedly MAMMA MIA anything else that doesn't come close in its story and adaptation is a let down

If you want a bio pic with music you cannot beat BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY and Rocket man failed in its attempt to merge the two together I wonder if there will be a film if 'we will rock you' ?

Geoff was a highlight he brought comedy to the script

Sadly this failed to take off on any level it's not a film you think I want to see that again and tell everyone to see if - it just failed to do what musicals do - it failed yo uplift - the ingredients were there they just weren't applied in the right quantities

Towards the final 10 minutes it upped a notch or or two but overall it just wasn't good enough

Disappointing

Pad. A 5/10.

I'm not the world's greatest Take That fan but even them I'm familiar enough with some of their songs to have enjoyed this moderately budgeted but fun if cheesey juke box musical.l based on the stage musical of the same name.

The plot follows a gang of teenage girls and how their friendship is tested over a quarter of a century, with the music of Take That (here just referred to as 'The Boys') becoming almost the only thing holding them together. When one wins tickets to see The Boys at a reunion concert in Greece she has to awkwardly contact her old friends who she hasn't seen for years to ask them to go. Old wounds are opened and arguments happen as they find their friendship tested, all the while dealing with the shadow of a tragedy from years ago.

The film isn't exactly deep but the acting is fine (comedienne Aisling Bea being surprisingly good). Obviously the music is the real draw and it's used well enough although the hit song song 'Shine' is wasted in the film and really should have been used for the finale.

The product placement for easyJet grates a bit but is probably a result of the production budget and small scale of the film. However if you can overlook this then this is a harmless if predictable film that won't change your world but might bring a smile to your face.