IT SNOWS IN BENIDORM

Cert 15

117 mins

BBFC advice: Contains very strong language

Well, if Benidorm is this exciting, we are booking a holiday there pronto.

Isabel Coixet's movie has folk of our age constantly dancing, drinking and frolicking in the background.

And when they are sitting still, they are watching a cabaret act in which an attractive mature woman extracts pearls from... well, you can imagine.

Not that Timothy Spall's character Peter is lively enough to notice. The recently redundant banker is deadpan while the craziness ensues around him.

Peter is lonely and lost after being kicked out of his job so decides to visit his brother who lives in Benidorm.

However, when he arrives, his sibling has disappeared, leaving him to stay in his flat and try to find out what has happened to him.

Very gradually, he treads into his sleazy world of exploitation and double-dealing.

Meanwhile, he falls for the lady (Sarita Choudhury) who pulls the aforementioned pearls from her unmentionable (I should mention that it happens off-screen).

Let's be honest, It Snows In Benidorm is a strange film - a combination of mystery, drama, exotica - and a lot of unanswered questions.

Timothy Spall gives his best shot at being a rather bemused interloper in a town where debauchery is out of step with his low-key approach to life.

But, overall, Coixet's movie rather misses the mark and I couldn't help thinking Benidorm wasn't quite as much fun as it suggests.