He succeeds. Although the kitchen sink is always just out of focus in the background, probably inevitably given both Gervais's sardonic sensibilities and the setting, which carries autobiographical echoes - the location is a fictitious Reading suburb in the early '70s and Gervais even plays the main character's ambitionless father - it engages and warms the cockles while mostly managing to stay clear of the sugariness of most of its US counterparts. The four young principals, dreaming of a life beyond the drab plans the older generation has for them, are refreshingly drawn and played, and cameos by a host of British stalwarts are helpful rather than obtrusive. The outcome is of course never in doubt, but getting there is a pleasant journey.
7/10
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