This is an interesting movie. The plot concerns a sleazy, rather past-it, small-time talent agent, who discovers that the ultra-shy daughter of his bonk-du-jour can imitate, with great power and accuracy, many of the old-time singers (notably Shirley Bassie, Judy Garland and Marilyn Munroe). He sees this as his ticket to success.
There are four characters of significance.
Michael Caine plays the sleazy agent, and he does it well.
His age shows, but then it needs to, his character is a
sad, dissipated old loser, but he has to show occasional
glimpses of underlying understanding, so that you open
the possibility of regarding him as "a good guy underneath".
The mother is an utterly awful, ever-talking, lonely woman,
getting old and desperate.
She lives above an old record shop, and we eventually see that
her late husband must have been a music enthusiast, and the
shop his business.
The house is a mess, neglected, and old-fashioned, as if
nothing (including the contents of the fridge) have been changed
since the time of the LP record first becoming popular.
The daughter (played by Jane Horrocks, who played Bubbles in AbFab)
is a desperately shy girl who virtually never leaves her room,
and whose only friends are the records her father loved. She
hardly ever speaks.
At the start of the movie, a telephone is being installed,
the only concession to the modern age to penetrate the
dwelling with the exception of the mother's underwear.
The telephone workmen are a pair, the younger of whom (played
by Ewan McGregor) is a pidgeon-keeping boy who is almost as
shy and quiet as the daughter. In a clumsy attempt to
get to talk to the daughter, he returns under the pretense of
delivering instructions for the telephone functions, and has
to answer the phone because the daughter is too shy to pick
up the receiver. (In a later attempt he is forced to resort to
a cherry-picker, with which his van is conveniently equipped.)
The characterisations are strong, and without giving away the plot details I can say that they do expose layers as circumstances change. Unsurprisingly, the telephone boy and the daughter wind up starting a relationship, but this is more of a sub-plot than central to the progress of the daughter. The film is revealing, endearing, magnificently petty and pathetic in places, and a "good yarn". Watch out for subtle humerous touches such as the distant sound of sirens after the dubious knife-throwing act. This is no brilliant work, but it is a sound, entertaining story of the "Educating Rita" category.
In particular, a credit line points out that "Jane Horrocks performs all her own songs", which seems to be saying that she actually sings the songs herself... and they are bloody good imitations of a number of singers of the period. If this is true, then this movie must have been written for her, or she made for the part!
Overall, a 7/10, but no deep theme.