A light and forgettable film.

Rating: 6/10 (1 November 2013)

There are a number of times while watching this film when I wondered what the point was. When it was finally spelled out to me, then I realized we've reached the end of the film. I find the best films have subtext that isn't spelled out to us or aimed to hit us on the head like a hammer. I find that the latter as a heavy-handed way of portraying a message or emotion, and that's what the powers that be decided this film to be, which is a shame.
That's not to say that the acting was awful. I believe the acting was, in a lot of scenes, heartfelt and sincere. That likely has more to do with their strength as actors than the actual script, however, which I thought was rather weak. Bill Nighy channels his Billy Mack character from "Love, Actually" (by the same director), this time as a father figure. Not much of a stretch for his considerable acting chops, but he manages to sell it nonetheless.
The whole affair is light and breezy. Not particularly memorable, which brings me back to my original point about the message being sledgehammered to the head. Perhaps the filmmakers thought that the film-goer would feel the same way I do, and decided to force the message in order to provide some sort of moral that is supposed to bring all this forgetful affair together and therefore make it memorable. The message itself, while commendable, is fairly underwhelming.
I had a somewhat pleasant experience watching this film, don't get me wrong. However, I have no desire to see this film again, and I'm glad I didn't pay full price to see it.