Starring: James Purefoy, Sam Swainsbury, Dave Johns, Maggie Steed, Imelda May, Meadow Nobrega, Richard Harrington, Jade Anouka, Joshua McGuire, David Heyman, Ramon Tikaram
Runtime: 111 mins. Reviewed in Mar 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Following the success of their first album, the Fisherman’s Friends struggle to adjust to their new-found fame and work towards a second album.
Anyone who does not get roused by the sea shanties must be tone deaf. They definitely have an appeal across the ages.
And this was certainly true with the original 2019 film, Fisherman’s Friends. It was based on an actual group of singing fishermen from Port Isaac, Cornwall, who were signed by a record company, and their first album. Not without the usual business difficulties.
At the heart of the group, and the first movie, was the older man, Jago (played endearingly by Heyman). And though he died in the original movie, we see him in the sequel as he appears to his son Jim (encouraging, singing along, criticising and urging Jim to better his life).
This film opens with the Fisherman’s Friends finishing a national tour – the opening credits naming all the towns. However, once at home everything returns, more or less, to ordinary life. Jim (Purefoy) on his boat, alone, various men working at the fish market, the young Rowan (Swainsbury) managing the bar with his wife. And, there is the powerful presence of Maggie, the matriarch (good to see Maggie Steed with the decades-old memories of TVs Pie in the Sky). And there is more than competent granddaughter, Tamsyn (Nobrega).
Meanwhile, in London record company agent Leah Jordan (Anouka) is eager to negotiate a second album.
The first dramatic question arises: is there a need for another voice now that Jago is dead? Jim is against it. However, mother and granddaughter organise auditions (some funny moments with a variety of would-be fishermen, Gilbert and Sullivan, Village People…) But one stands out, Morgan (Harrington) a Welsh farmer who has moved to Cornwall. Everybody is enthusiastic – except Jim who later humiliates Morgan in public.
This is the kind of tale that appeals to a wide, but generally older, audience. So, a romance is introduced. There is an Irish singer, a recovering alcoholic, who has ruined her career, Aubrey (May) whom Jim is rude to but there is a mellowing. The drama is heightened with a mine accident involving Maggie and granddaughter, and tension in a rescue.
So, what is left? Of course, rehabilitation, the possibility of a new album, a concert appearance. And we all enjoy this because the fisherman’s friends, with apologies from Jim to Morgan (the one and all of the title), go to London to confront the executives in a restaurant, singing heartily and engaging all the diners. And, Maggie has concocted a scheme where the group has the possibility of appearing at… But that would be a spoiler.
There is a pleasure of seeing the actual members of the group during the final credits, seen in buses, seen performing at… Once again avoiding the spoiler.
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