The Ballad Of Wallis Island (12A)
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Sian Clifford, Tom Basden, Tim KeyGenre: Comedy
Author(s): Tim Key, Tom Basden
Director: James Griffiths
Release Date: 30/05/2025
Running Time: 100mins
Country: UK
Year: 2025
Singer-songwriter Herb McGwyer, one half of disbanded double-act McGwyer Mortimer, accepts a six-figure sum to play a private gig for unlikely millionaire Charles Heath on Wallis Island. Herb arrives alone and quickly deduces that the advertised audience of "less than 100" is in fact... just Charles. Unbeknown to Herb, the widower has also invited his former bandmate Nell Mortimer to the island with her husband Michael in the hope of a musical reunion.
LondonNet Film Review
The Ballad Of Wallis Island (12A) Film Review from LondonNet
If cherubic cuteness could be bottled and sold, Maia Kealoha would be a multi-millionaire. The eight-year-old Hawaiian actress oozes adorability from every sun-kissed pore in a title role of director Dean Fleischer Camp’s feel-great live-action reworking of the acclaimed 2002 Disney animation, which remains faithful to beloved source material but isn’t afraid to upcycle and refurbish for modern tastes. Screenwriters Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes appropriate meaningful dialogue from the original including a heart-tugging life lesson about togetherness (“Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind”) and Stitch’s wholesome declaration of love…
Review: Long-time comedy writing partners Tom Basden and Tim Key channel the warmth and wit of their real-life friendship in the quietly affecting comedy drama The Ballad Of Wallis Island. Expanded from the duo’s award-winning 2007 short film, this crowd-pleasing tale of creative strife and deep-rooted regret directed by James Griffiths was filmed on location along the Welsh coastline. Icelandic cinematographer G Magni Agustsson captures the raw, untamable beauty of locations that play a supporting role in the on-screen trouble and strife.
The humour in Basden and Key’s script is quintessentially British, leaning in heavily to puns, Dad jokes and intentional malapropisms to endear a chatterbox principal character who feels the need to fill the silence of a perfect sunset with his wittering. His sudden excitement translates as an outburst of “Wowzers in your trousers” and when a visitor to the eponymous island tumbles into the sea and despairs they are drenched, the socially awkward protagonist cheerfully responds, “Yes, Dame Judi!” Original songs composed by Basden as the back catalogue of a fictional folk rock duo are sincere in their heartfelt sweetness.
Key’s performance is the emotional linchpin and he is note-perfect shuffling through his character’s grief. The script forcibly sidelines one point of the central love triangle to allow old wounds to heal, which feels contrived and at odds with the freewheeling, spontaneous spirit that washes over the rest of the picture.
Singer-songwriter Herb McGwyer (Basden), one half of disbanded double-act McGwyer Mortimer, desperately needs cash to complete a new solo album so he accepts a six-figure sum to play a private gig for unlikely millionaire Charles (Key) on Wallis Island. Herb arrives alone and quickly deduces that the advertised audience of “less than 100” is in fact… just Charles. The host’s wife Marie died five years ago and was a superfan of McGwyer Mortimer in their heyday so the low-key performance on the beach will be a nostalgic reminder of happier times for Charles.
Unbeknown to Herb, the widower has also invited his former bandmate Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) to the island with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen) in the hope of a musical reunion. As Herb awkwardly navigates residual feelings for Nell, she encourages Charles to pursue his unspoken attraction to local shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford) and invite her to the gig.
The Ballad Of Wallis Island is an appealing odd throuple comedy that mines humour and tears from our tendency to cling on to fanciful, rose-tinted memories of the past. Basden’s gruffness contrasts pleasingly with Key’s childlike effervescence (“Kathmandu? More like Kathman-did!”) and Mulligan is a delightful foil for them both. The simplicity of the set-up and its unfussy execution are in perfect harmony.
– Jo Planter
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