The Young Visiters
This peculiar and delightful BBC movie springs from an equally peculiar  and delightful novel written in 1890 by a 9-year-old girl and published  with her spelling left uncorrected--hence the title,The Young  Visiters. Mr. Alfred Salteena (Jim Broadbent,Topsy-Turvy)  falls in love with an ambitious young beauty named Ethel (Lyndsey Marshal,The Hours), who only agrees to visit the clumsy and unctuous Alfred  if he introduces her to nobility. Alfred cajoles an invitation from Lord  Bernard Clark (Hugh Laurie,Stuart Little), whose own interest in  Ethel leads him to send Alfred off for lessons in manners, launching  Alfred on his own road to high status. The story's mixture of offhand  naivete and precocious insights into class results in something daft,  funny, and thoroughly charming. Also featuring a delicious turn by Bill  Nighy (Love Actually) as the earl who agrees to "rub up" Alfred.--Bret Fetzer