The Scouting Book For Boys

This unremarkable and to tell the truth not very good film was forgotten almost after seeing it. The characters, in particular your male lead, are idiots and thus infuriating if one particularly learned to care about the. There is the unfortunate assumption that just because people are poor they become interesting; this is not the case, some people, and some cultures, rich or poor, are just boring because the people within them hold no interest.
This ultra-Britishising porn of the regional setting adds nothing. It just makes the whole excercise mildly pathetic. The plot is at once over-egged, faintly absurd, and pointless. Saying that the conclusion makes a wider point about the feminine in society, and males, gives the film far too much credit. Its fault is in its rather ponderous over simplicity/
This is being over harsh, it is in all honesty not a distasteful film to watch, and keeps you occupied. It also ends rather well, the move into hysterical violence offering a lot more fun than what had gone before, if all rather pointless.
The only real interesting point of this film though is that it is shot and shares an aesthetic with the terrific 'Fish Tank'. What was almost biblical there in its dramatic, grand broken skylines becomes just grimy here, and makes one tired if this whole milleu of British-working class wallowing. Here, unlike Fishtank, there are no wider messages at play, and we are left with parochial scenes that will be quickly forgotten.