Lucky Break review

The Full Monty thrust first-time British director Peter Cattaneo into the media spotlight, garnering an Academy Award nomination and trophies from numerous film festivals.

Evidently, he has the Midas touch because his follow-up, Lucky Break, is another 24-carat hit - a sweet and romantic confection laced with tragedy and social realism.

Bank robber and car thief Jimmy (Nesbitt) plots a daring escape from prison and persuades the governor (Plummer) to stage a show, Nelson: The Musical, in the Old Chapel.

Jimmy hopes to use the production as a cover for his escape - the guards will be too busy enjoying the performance to notice a few prisoners slipping out the exit and over the perimeter wall.

He persuades most of the old lags to tread the boards (using phone cards as bribes), including well-mannered Roger (Nighy) and gentle soul Cliff (Spall).

However, his plan hits a major snag when he falls in love with a sexy Prison Support Officer (Williams) who foolishly believes he has turned his back on a life of crime.

The ensemble cast is flawless, right down to the smallest supporting role. Nesbitt dusts off his Cold Feet persona as the charming rogue with a heart of gold, manipulating the people around him with a twinkle in his eye.

He sends temperatures soaring in his scenes with Williams, especially in their musical duet as Nelson and his beloved Emma (their on stage coupling mirroring their true feelings).

Nighy pickpockets every scene as the toff who seems too good for prison and Cook is loathsome as the warden with no compassion or heart.

The film belongs, however, to Spall who plucks the heart strings as the despondent father who wants nothing more than to make his son proud.

The end-of-credits sequence, showing him warbling "Sunny" at the old johanna, will have audiences sobbing all the way home.