The acting is fresh and charming, and direction is pacy and generally engaging. But once this tale gets stuck in the tramlines of its "Bend it Like Beckham/Billy Elliot" youngster aiming to shake off parental oppression, you know EXACTLY where it's going to take you. Apart from the nasty National Front scenes towards the end, this is a film with very little tension and next to zero surprises, plot twists and turns. And if a story lacks that in a film, then it really has a problem. It descends into a series of box ticking narrative requirements. I've read the book and it was funny and humane. But this film has not really delivered on the original text. It could have been so much better with a riskier and more daring script that wasn't afraid to get off those predictable "tramlines."
Review of Blinded by the Light
