Bank of Dave

BANK OF DAVE is a classic British feel-good "underdog" movie, designed to offend no one, and please everyone. And, let's be fair, no one does underdog like the Brits! Rory Kinnear is especially appealing as Dave, the local businessman who woke up one morning with the quaint notion that the only way to beat the nasty-nasty banks at their own game was to actually become a bank. Against all odds, he pulled it off. The courtroom scenes are especially well done. Recommended. Not only do we need more banks that care about customers, we need more movies that care about viewers. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

This is a true gem of a film. A sort of feel good comedy with a bit of romance and some social comedy thrown in . With the banking sector being the bad guys , what's not to like.

The acting is great all the way through . There are a couple of laugh out load moments a background romance.

I thought Joel Fry played his part magnificently as the slightly confused southerner thrown into the north of England.

The story of Dave Fishwick is described at the beginning as True(ish) as there is clearly a lot of artistic licensing going off. But at its heart is a man who just wants to give something back to his community.

Joyful film cant recommend enough.

Bank of Dave is a heavily fictionalised feelgood comedy drama about Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear.) A truck and minibus dealer in Burnley. After the financial crash of 2008 when banks got bailed out but stopped lending to those in need.

Fishwick wanted to start a not for profit bank that would give loans to the local community.

In his way is the elitist banking establishment determined that northerner like Fishwick will not get his bank off the ground. So he gets the help of a corporate lawyer Hugh (Joel Fry) from London to make the application for a banking licence.

Bank of Dave rightly takes a stick to the banking fat cats who took fraudulent risks, went bust, saved by a Labour government and the taxpayer. All so they could carry on regardless.

The movie is too formulaic. Northerners are the salt of the earth, Londoners are hissable villains. There is a romantic subplot involving Hugh and a NHS doctor.

There is a good performance from Rory Kinnear. Despite his father hailing from Wigan, his accent seemed to be more generic northern than Lancashire.

Director Chris Foggin knows which buttons to push to give it a warm glow. The songs help as well as an appearance from Def Leppard.

I came across this one on Netflix, not having heard anything about it and was pleasantly surprised. It's the glorious, true story of the little man taking on the establishment. Self made Millionaire Dave Fishwick decides to start a bank in his home town of Burnley to help support local businesses,creating jobs and services for the community. In doing so he comes face to face with the banking establishment, who use all their dirty tricks to prevent him. In a way mirroring the sentiments of classics like It's a Wonderful Life, this film shows what can be achieved when people come together to take on the powers that be. An uplifting gem.

After watching a string of overlong offerings from Netflix this was a refreshingly well made film.

A true story, despite obvious fictional embellishment, it was well acted and the screenplay and direction was efficient and credible.

One feature in the story gave me a bit of a problem: the theft of a page of Hugh's file. That seems a bit of a stretch of the imagination but I won't try and find out if it did actually happen.

It was also nice to see a film that is clearly not a pilot for a potential series.

And of course it does make a very important point about the banking sector. Overall strongly recommended.