Film review: Military Wives

After handing social committee duties to no-nonsense Captain’s wife Lisa (Horgan), uptight Kate can’t help but interfere with the way Lisa has chosen to proceed. Things come to a head when the women clash over the creation of a new choir, but they soon find that there is more they have in common than the stereotypes that initially divide them.

Cattaneo excels at these types of narratives. He presents a fairly formulaic, yet assuredly executed production which, when all said and done, is mostly elevated by its fantastically inspired cast.

Yes, Military Wives is a standard drama/comedy, and yes it is undeniably superficial in its representation of some aspects of military life, but on the whole Cattaneo has managed to pour so much heart and emotion into the story, that it is almost impossible not to fall for its, admittedly, obvious schtick.

Horgan and Scott Thomas play off each other brilliantly and with perfect comic timing. They give two beautifully layered, and inspired performances as two women who have more in common than first thought. Greg Wise is suitably self-effacing as the grieving father trying to salvage what is left of his life, while Jason Flemyng does a great job as the amiable duty officer left in charge of overseeing the committee.

This is a robustly acted, and fairly well handled drama comedy that does exactly what is expected from it. While there doesn’t appear to be much here that we haven’t already seen from Cattaneo, it’s the performances that make the film.

Military Wives is on general release from 6 March