Gangsta Granny

This film comes from the mind of comedian turned writer David Walliams. It's one of his many children's books to be turned into a TV movie, which is appropriately rated U for all audiences. This feature is directed by Matt Lipsey, it has a runtime of about an hour, and like Walliams's other features, there is a decent cast assembled to act out the parts.

11-year-old Ben is bored. Every weekend his parents Linda and Mike spend time with their hobby of ballroom dancing. They are either watching it on TV, or they are doing it as a dancing couple. Meanwhile Ben is constantly being shipped off to his grandmother's house who he finds boring. One day Ben discovers that his grandmother is not as boring as he thought, in fact she is a world-renowned jewel thief called that Black Cat. She stopped short of her greatest robbery on account of Ben's father being born and since then she has lived out a quiet life. With Ben's encouragement she is talked back into the business of robbery and together they go after the greatest prize of all, the crown jewels.

Julia McKenzie, once "Shirley Valentine" (1989) plays granny in this film, with Reece Buttery playing young Ben. His parents are played by David Walliams and Miranda Hart, with Rob Brydon, Claudia Winkleman, Harish Patel, Robbie Williams, and Joanna Lumley all appearing too.

This TV film is one of many of Walliams's kids' books which seems to be syndicated to appear every Christmas and New Year in the UK. Despite being produced in the last century, it already feels old because it is written in a way that dates it to a particular era of linguistics. In the film Ben suggests his grandma should be "more gangsta", and the use of language here dates to between 2005-2015 (at a stretch), beyond which, this kind of linguistic became 'lame'.

On the surface this is a simple enough film which tries to enforce loving the entire family, but it is also not without it is flaws too. It encourages stealing and lying, it suggests that being condescending is ok, and when Ben ditches his dance partner it encourages viewers to not bother doing something if they do not want to - and furthermore, lie about it too and just do not justify or apologise for it. I recently watched another of David Walliams's books to films recently - "Mr Stink" (2012). This film fell into the same trap as that did - it was written how an adult perceived kids to be, with what he thought they would want. Rather than what they wanted and how they were. It tries too hard and stumbles. Yes, it's a kid's movie, but it's predictable and not that entertaining - and I'm not judging this just by my own viewing pleasures too. I have sat down my young cousins in front of this and none of them were engrossed or entertained. I cannot rate or recommend this film that highly. Do yourself a favour and look out for a Roald Dahl or Dr Seuss feature instead.

An hour or so well wasted on this childish comedy. Great cast.

A young boy learns that his sweet, meak, mild mannered grandmother used to be a jewel thief, the pair hatch a daring plan.

I think of all the books of David Walliams, that this was the best of them, it's a sweet, fun read, with some interesting, defiant characters, people that have broken free or the moulds that society places them.

It tries so hard, and many of the jokes land a fair bit short, but overall it's a decent watch, some of it was quite moving, the ending in particular was.

Julia McKenzie steals the show, and is a cut above, excellent from her.

Miranda Hart was pretty good fun, her brand of humour was definitely welcome, I thought David Walliams was painful at times.

Superior to the awful follow up that came in 2022, it's a bit of an oddity, but for a bit of Christmas family fun it's a decent watch, 6/10.

I have just created an account on IMDB merely to write this review. I was recently unfortunate enough to be encumbered on the sofa while this played out on Netflix and have to say I now feel less intelligent and less able to see the world in a positive light as a result. The gags throughout the show were bottom of the barrel and the plotline was riddled with holes the size of the ones I would like to put in my own head after watching it. David Walliams should live with the guilt of what he's done for the rest of life and be tried, alongside Tony Blair, as a war criminal. There were, however, two plus points to the ordeal I was forced to endure. One was the half decent joke about the kid being an avid plumber, plumbing wallpaper and all. A rare glimmer of light in a world of darkness. And the second was that after watching this I was inspired to fulfil my own dreams as a writer, because if David Walliams can make it to Netflix with this utter puddle of slime, then surely there is hope for someone like me. If you are reading this before watching it, save yourself, and don't. If you are reading this afterwards, I offer my sincerest condolences.

Suffice it to say that I had never heard about this 2013 British comedy titled "Gangsta Granny", when I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2024. And with its rather odd title, I have to say that the movie did catch my attention right away. And with it being a movie I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

I was surprised to see that David Walliams was starring in the movie, and had also been writing the script. But that definitely just helped to peak the interest in sitting down to watch the movie.

The storyline in the movie was adequate, though I have to admit that I was expecting a tad more comedy. However, it would seem that "Gangsta Granny" was a kids movie. So it was a little bit of a let down to sit down and watch the movie, truth be told. But I am sure that a younger audience will find something more enjoyable here than I did. It is not that writers David Walliams, Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley put together a poor script, it just happened to be one that didn't really entertain me all that much.

The acting performances in the movie was good. Leading actress Julia McKenzie and actor Reece Buttery carried the movie quite nicely. Of course you always get something fun with actor David Walliams, and it was fun watch Robbie Williams showing up in the movie in that particular role. So thumbs up to the cast ensemble in the movie.

"Gangsta Granny" is not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of director Matt Lipsey's 2013 movie "Gangsta Granny" lands on a three out of ten stars.