Grown-Ups

Dick and Mandy move into a former church hall in Canterbury. Their teachers from school, a couple named Butcher, are their new neighbours. Mandy's lonely sister, Gloria, is a constant pain in the neck until she in a fit of rage takes the neighbours' side. Leigh develops the relationships between his immature and unsympathetic characters near breaking-point, before he makes a sharp turn and leaves the film to its conclusion, Grown-Ups was originally made for TV. It is frequently very entertaining and, as usual when it concerns Leigh's films, contains a great deal of social criticism, The director describes his work as an expression of regret with the nature of our post-war society, however it doesn't aim to criticize the character of it, rather the terms of its existence.