Bank of Dave (2023)

Nice British Comedy - Bank of Dave review by GI

This falls fairly and squarely in the traditional British underdog comedy genre, it's cheerful, funny and every character is a stereotypical one found in every other film of this type. But of course its a charming story based on a true one although heavily fictionalised of Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear), a Burnley businessman who is a rag-to-riches millionaire due to his motorhome sales business but has never forgotten his working class roots. In the 2008 banking crisis he begins lending money to his struggling friends and local people and eventually comes up with the idea to open a local bank in order to offer an alternative to the high street banks. But he faces opposition from the pompous banking world represented by Hugh Bonneville who go out of their way to stop him. He employs London solicitor, Hugh (Joel Fry), who reluctantly takes on the case. Of course it all ends totally predictably and romance for Hugh warms him to the north of England which he initially sees as a foreign country! The inevitable jokes about the north/south divide with accents etc are a little hackneyed but still make you chuckle. Kinnear gives the role his all and fits it perfectly. As long as you don't believe everything you see here as true this is just a nice gentle comedy that makes you smile.