Nasty Neighbours

The tragicomic Nasty Neighbours is one of the best film I've seen this decade. Unlike so many others it is not about slick, glamorous yuppies (the kind of films I'm sick to death of) but about an ordinary bloke who is just trying to fulfil the role of breadwinner in an occupation where there is not always bread to be had and in which only the ruthless survive.

In this, modern day,"Death of a Salesman" the British Willy Lowman, played by Ricky Tomlinson, is trying desperately to hold onto the "American" dream of the "he-who-dares-wins" philosophy of latter 20th century Britain. He is failing miserably, unlike his prospering neighbours, the Chapmans (played by Phil Daniels and Rachel Fielding), who consider him and his wife inferior.

Ricky Tomlinson and Marion Bailey are excellently cast as the Peaches - he as Harold, the down-on-his-luck double glazing salesman, she as Jean, his nice but nutty wife. When the family's debts get out of hand the husband refuses to give up his Englishman's castle to the Bailiffs, implicitly believing that he should have something to show for his life's work. With his back against the wall, this follow-all-the-rules guy decides that for once he is going to rebel! The results are both hilarious and tragic.

This film, in my opinion, would be a box office smash hit if only someone would give it the chance!