My Review - Bank of Dave 2033
In Cinemas now
My Rating 10/10
What a delightful surprise to see a movie you know nothing about really except a few of the cast members names in this case Rory Kinnear who plays Dave and of course Hugh Bonneville who plays a relatively small but important supporting role as Sir Charles who happens to be a bit of a villain in this story.
I won't spoil the plot except to say that it's mostly based on the true-life experiences of Dave Fishwick a solid well liked citizen of the Northern English town of Burnley .
The Borough of Burnley is situated in the North in Lancashire far from the sophistication and frenetic pace of London.
Rory Kinnear is perfectly cast in a career best role his personality accent and singing voice will win you over immediately. His affable character an audience will warm to immediately I hope the real Dave Fishwick is as likeable .
Dave has had great success with his mini van business sharing his success with his community when they've asked for it in increasing difficult financial times.
The huge London Banks haven't helped the citizens of Burnley at all charging high interest rates and rejecting most loan applicants who just can't afford the massive repayments.
So Dave puts in an application to open a Community Bank to assist his business clients and friends with the intention of reinvesting their deposits in charity and local worthy causes like a badly needed free hospital clinic.
This is where he meets Goliath the British Banker Association run by the so called super rich "right sorts of men " . They decide to keep the status quo that they must try and block Dave's application in case it starts a trend to undermine their exclusive rules regarding their Banking system.
Dave's is the first application for a Community based Bank in 120 years and he commissions the help of Hugh a young London solicitor who travels up to Burnley to interview Dave and prepare his application .
Hugh warns him that the odds are stacked against him but is gradually won over with Dave's sensible explanation as to why his Community needs a bank as well as his honest motives so he decides to take on what seems an impossible task.
That's enough plot line the ensemble characters in Bank of Dave take over and form the best part of the story from this point.
There's a brewing romance of course and plenty of fun especially in The Duck and Drake Inn where the locals drink and Karaoke Dave takes to the floor.
Two standout performances for me apart from Rory Kinnear are Joel Fry as Hugh the London solicitor who is reluctant at first to travel to Burnley but soon is won over by the spirit of the locals and Phobe Dynevor as Dave's lovely niece Alexandra who is an overworked Doctor in Burnley hospital her friendship with Hugh thaws out after a rocky start.
I love it when the Brits do what they do best aside from pomp and circumstance when their movies highlight real everyday characters involved in David and Goliath battles that movie audiences relate to with their own daily struggles .
In this category I think of movies like Pride, 2014 Brassed Off 1996 , Made in Dagenham (2010) and two delightful movies also written by Piers Ashworth the writer of Bank of Dave Fisherman's Friends (2019) and Save the Cinema (2022).
This is one reason for me why Bank of Dave is an excellent example of an entertaining movie in every aspect because it's intelligent,believable and doesn't patronise its audiences with unnecessary sentiment and padding.
I resonated with Bank of Dave because our community outside the City is fortunate to have a Bank that does contribute back to local projects we support it and they support us often displaying a huge copy of a charitable cheque to a good local cause in its shopfront.
There's great music as I mentioned in Bank of Dave and a cameo performance from what I've read is a legendary British rock band Def Leppard who just happen to be touring in concert in Sydney this coming November.
My 10/10 rating in this case isn't for epic spectacle or necessarily Oscar worthy performances it's for pure entertainment ,wonderful characters great script and a cinema experience that uplifted me .
Bank of Dave is a complete departure from the angst that seems to be so prominent in our movie world and real world today .
Community and Connection are still the most important virtues .
What a delightful surprise to see a movie you know nothing about really except a few of the cast members names in this case Rory Kinnear who plays Dave and of course Hugh Bonneville who plays a relatively small but important supporting role as Sir Charles who happens to be a bit of a villain in this story.
I won't spoil the plot except to say that it's mostly based on the true-life experiences of Dave Fishwick a solid well liked citizen of the Northern English town of Burnley .
The Borough of Burnley is situated in the North in Lancashire far from the sophistication and frenetic pace of London.
Rory Kinnear is perfectly cast in a career best role his personality accent and singing voice will win you over immediately. His affable character an audience will warm to immediately I hope the real Dave Fishwick is as likeable .
Dave has had great success with his mini van business sharing his success with his community when they've asked for it in increasing difficult financial times.
The huge London Banks haven't helped the citizens of Burnley at all charging high interest rates and rejecting most loan applicants who just can't afford the massive repayments.
So Dave puts in an application to open a Community Bank to assist his business clients and friends with the intention of reinvesting their deposits in charity and local worthy causes like a badly needed free hospital clinic.
This is where he meets Goliath the British Banker Association run by the so called super rich "right sorts of men " . They decide to keep the status quo that they must try and block Dave's application in case it starts a trend to undermine their exclusive rules regarding their Banking system.
Dave's is the first application for a Community based Bank in 120 years and he commissions the help of Hugh a young London solicitor who travels up to Burnley to interview Dave and prepare his application .
Hugh warns him that the odds are stacked against him but is gradually won over with Dave's sensible explanation as to why his Community needs a bank as well as his honest motives so he decides to take on what seems an impossible task.
That's enough plot line the ensemble characters in Bank of Dave take over and form the best part of the story from this point.
There's a brewing romance of course and plenty of fun especially in The Duck and Drake Inn where the locals drink and Karaoke Dave takes to the floor.
Two standout performances for me apart from Rory Kinnear are Joel Fry as Hugh the London solicitor who is reluctant at first to travel to Burnley but soon is won over by the spirit of the locals and Phobe Dynevor as Dave's lovely niece Alexandra who is an overworked Doctor in Burnley hospital her friendship with Hugh thaws out after a rocky start.
I love it when the Brits do what they do best aside from pomp and circumstance when their movies highlight real everyday characters involved in David and Goliath battles that movie audiences relate to with their own daily struggles .
In this category I think of movies like Pride, 2014 Brassed Off 1996 , Made in Dagenham (2010) and two delightful movies also written by Piers Ashworth the writer of Bank of Dave Fisherman's Friends (2019) and Save the Cinema (2022).
This is one reason for me why Bank of Dave is an excellent example of an entertaining movie in every aspect because it's intelligent,believable and doesn't patronise its audiences with unnecessary sentiment and padding.
I resonated with Bank of Dave because our community outside the City is fortunate to have a Bank that does contribute back to local projects we support it and they support us often displaying a huge copy of a charitable cheque to a good local cause in its shopfront.
There's great music as I mentioned in Bank of Dave and a cameo performance from what I've read is a legendary British rock band Def Leppard who just happen to be touring in concert in Sydney this coming November.
My 10/10 rating in this case isn't for epic spectacle or necessarily Oscar worthy performances it's for pure entertainment ,wonderful characters great script and a cinema experience that uplifted me .
Bank of Dave is a complete departure from the angst that seems to be so prominent in our movie world and real world today .
Community and Connection are still the most important virtues .