Poor writing = lost opportunity

Rating: 7/10 (30 January 2018)

I heard other people in the audience literally laugh out at some of the so-called humour which I found a bit distasteful. I'm not sure why anyone would give this some comedy given the subject matter and I felt uncomfortable.
The only naturally comical bit which I thought fitted in and worked well was the dinner date (that I did laugh about admittedly).
I think the subplot between Mildred and Charlie was a bit weak and that could have added so much more to the story.
The other subplot about Willoughby having cancer added some complexity to the story but that should have been revealed later in the story rather than early on.
A very big gripe is that in the letter to Dixon Willoughby spoke of how crimes could be solved because of someone's stupidity. Magically, five or ten minutes later Dixon is in a bar after he loses his job and over-hears someone bragging about something that happened similarly 18 months previously!!
Something tells me the writers thought they had a great premise (I agree it is) but weren't sure how they wanted the film to end so had to contrive up a sudden change in character that would lead to what they thought might be satisfying ending but I didn't think so.
To me that is incredibly poor writing and could have been handled so much better than it was.
It is a two hour film but I start to get uncomfortable if I feel it drags on for to long and it dragged. The last 45 minutes or so it was starting to run out of steam.