****
Director: Nick Hurran
Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Julie Walters, Kris Kristofferson
Rating: M
Reviewer: Naomi Larkin
Dawn, trapped in a dead-end job in an electronics factory in a dreary northern English town, dreams of hitting the high life in Las Vegas.
Jackie (Walters), her sister-in-law, best mate and fellow worker, dreams of just getting out.
Their escape arrives in the form of a hefty win at the local bingo hall. But then Dawn (Blethyn) is diagnosed with cancer.
Jackie decides to kidnap her and the pair - decked out in outrageous wigs and cowboy hats - take on Vegas.
The publicity suggests Girl's Night is a mix between Shirley Valentine and Thelma and Louise. (At one point Jackie says: "We'll be just like Thelma and Louise." Dawn: "Who are they?")
Certainly the personal and road/journey aspects of the earlier movies are there, but it is not so much a tale of female self-discovery than a wonderfully honest look at friendship between women.
It is this slice-of-life approach which prevents Girls' Night from becoming simply a "disease of the week" tearjerker.
It is refreshing to see two gritty, mature, female leading characters. Blethyn and Walters are well-chosen - they seem to be having a genuinely good time - and they keep things weepy but bearable.
Kristofferson's role (like Brad Pitt's in Thelma and Louise) is not central to the film; however, it provides a pleasant touch of mystery and romance.
Girls' Night is amusing in the genre of witty British comedy where so often the characters are able to poke fun at themselves. But it is also poignant and sad - there was not a dry eye left at the preview.
Girl's Night
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