Barbara Windsor is a wonderful lady, a national treasure even. With such an interesting life, as shown in her autobiography 'All of Me' (which is well worth a read), the film had a good story to tell. Unfortunately, the plot is not allowed to flow due to the continuous shifting back and forth between the actual interesting storyline and conversations between an older Barbara and her deceased father which are very confusing. These scenes feel like they are bridging a gap between the scenes with the younger Barbara.
Samantha Spiro is the absolute double of Barbara Windsor and with your eyes half shut you would believe it was her. Honor Kneafsey as young Barbara does a good job, and Jaime Winstone does a good job too, despite unfortunately looking nothing like a young Miss Windsor. Most other characters are convincingly played by the actors.
I think that the story of Barbara's life would much better suit a tv series, or a tv miniseries as so much interesting things have happened to Barbara such as the Carry On films, EastEnders and being the wife of a gangster, but having to cram everything into an hour long film of course misses a lot out. I'm 100% sure this would work out as a series full of cliffhangers, suspense, sex and engaging characters.
It does feel though that the film does go along the fashion of 'show a bit of younger Barbara then shift back to older Barbara but then go back to younger Barbara but five years later'. The Carry On films are only briefly touched upon and Sid James' name is never mentioned. Kenneth Williams does fleetingly appear and although the actor looks nothing like Williams, the voice is perfection.
Also, despite the confusing appearance of the real Barbara in the cafe talking to the younger Barbara, the real Miss Windsor makes a touching cameo at the end of the film which should not go unmentioned. Including more real life appearances of Barbara in films between scenes in this film would have made it better too.
Overall: a watchable film, but it could be improved.
