'Nuts in May'

This is a good film to see for anyone starting on the long, twisted road that is trying to understand the British. Keith is a deeply anal-retentive man on a camping holiday with his dim, lisping girlfriend, Candace Marie. When a rough biker couple arrives at the campsite next door, his ordered little world is destroyed and his sanity nearly goes with it.

The character of Keith is absolutely brilliant: I've never seen such a deeply flawed, contradictory, human character so well written and well portrayed on screen. Roger Sloman is utterly convincing and very funny. Alison Steadman is also very good and the whole film is difficult to forget.

My 11yr old daughter and her 12yr old friend chose this movie for a sleepover in what can only be described as a flash of brilliance. As I cooked in the kitchen I kept being drawn in by their laughter, giggling and quizzical expressions. Being a long time Mike Leigh fan, I eventually just squeezed into the couch beside them and proceeded to watch one of the funniest movies I have ever, EVER seen. I like hearing that it has become a tradition for people, and I think I will try that this year over the Christmas holidays.

My daughter and her friend now make a point of staring the other down and growling, "Now Candice-Marie..."

This is one of the funniest things i've ever seen in my life and what's more it doesn't need to resort to crudity to be effective, something that's unheard of nowadays, not that i'm on a moral crusade but the world potrayed in this film looks rather quaint in the cut and thrust of the 21st century. I'll knock your head off !

Where it all began for Mike Leigh. This was a TV movie about a married couple who go camping. She is an easily led dimwit, he an absolute boor. He marches around the countryside dutifully doing guidebook walks without really taking anything in ("What's that, Keith?" "It's Number 12.") and sticking to his own pre-arranged plans no matter what ("We can't do that tomorrow, we're doing something else tomorrow!") Of course, he goes to pieces by the end, but the best bits are that sheer comedy of embarrassment that Britain does so well.

To anyone who loves to observe the eccentricities of the human condition, this film is a real gem.

Other reviewers have rightly pointed out that very little actually happens: it's just an English couple on a camping trip in the 1970s. But that analysis is to ignore the genius at work in the writing, and the acting of the two leads. Every frame, every line, every gesture is filled with humour and pathos - if you're prepared to look for it.

Roger Sloman and Alison Steadman are just sublime in their portrayal of the new-age suburban middle class couple. We scorn them, we pity them, we recognise them and we like them (albeit we wouldn't want to spend much time with them).

For me, the other characters - though necessary for the 'plot,' are less well-drawn. But the two leads are on screen so constantly it barely matters.

There's not much else to say, really. You just have to watch it. A warning though: once discovered, this is the sort of film you want to watch again and again. The dilemma is how you strike the balance between savouring it regularly without getting to know it too well.... I think the important thing is to use your discretion.