Pride
Doing for the LGBT community what The Help did for African Americans, Pride conspires toward a feel-good conclusion by affirming the human spirit's tenacity in the face of bigotry. Like the aforementioned civil rights crowd-pleaser, however, it's guilty of sanitising the struggles to which it pays its respects.
Director Matthew Warchus, the man who brought Ghost: The Musical to Broadway, is adept at manipulating his audience's emotions. We cheer as Dominic West's gay bookshop proprietor wins over homophobes with flamboyant dance moves and curse the men who subject his partner to a hate crime, but these are merely kneejerk responses. The unlikely union forged between homosexuals and striking miners during the 80s is interesting enough to withstand Warchus's paint-by-numbers filmmaking, but to have talent of Bill Nighy's and Paddy Considine's calibre go to waste in two-dimensional supporting roles lends this sassy hit an air of missed opportunity.