Harry Papadopoulus is about to gamble the multi-million food empire that he created from scratch to finance a vast housing/shopping complex in London that will net him billions. Trouble is his timing, as a day after the deal is done, there is a big run on the Stock Exchange and his Bank get cold feet and ask for immediate repayment of all the hefty loans they had advanced. Harry is full of charm and optimism but short on cash so the Banks declare him bankrupt and seize everything. This includes the large MacMansion that is home to him and his three spoilt children and their very droll housekeeper. Harry’s accountants are convinced that they can find a wealthy White Knight to help him buy his Company back, but in the meanwhile he must find somewhere to live and some sort of income.
The possible answer to both of his problems is the derelict Fish and Shop that he still owns with Spiros his rather irresponsible older brother. However rather than agree to sell the property that they had both long forgotten they even owned, Spiros convinces a very reluctant and skeptical Harry to re-open it and run it like a family business just as they did when they first left school.
Of course they do open it, and his stuck up kids find out that discovering their Dad’s poor roots isn’t so bad after all. Teenage clothes obsessed Katie gets to date the boy from the local Turkish Kebab Story; plant-enthusiast James gets to escape Law School and get really green fingers; and young nerdy Theo can now use his computer to help run the Chippie.
Meanwhile Sophie the pretty American woman who works for Harry’s slimy opportunistic Accountant sees both the errors of her ways (i.e. being a professional vulture) and also Harry’s exceeding good looks, so she switches her well-paid job to taste Harry’s batter.
It is a wildly silly story with a very predictable plot and some very glaring inconsistencies (like the Housekeeper still being around even though the family of 5 were squeezed into a small apartment above the Shop). And even though there was hardly ever a customer in sight ….. the shop was meant to a runaway success and a potential goldmine! Despite all this, I have to say this wee very British move was a very likable piece of fluff and really quite entertaining. Credit I think mainly to a great tun by TV/Stage Actor Stephen Dillane (‘Game of Thrones’) in one of his all too rare movie appearances, and the rather fabulous Selena Cadell .. a stalwart actor, well known and beloved by Brit audiences who had all the best lines as the all-seeing all-knowing Housekeeper.
I often complain that whenever I need a break from my usual very intense viewing schedule and choose some light relief, I am inevitably annoyed/bored. Not this time : this will not win Awards, or even stay in my memory too long, but it made me smile for a good 90 mins … which cannot be too bad.
Available now on DVD/VOD.
★★★★★★★
