Rating: 
Summary: Perfectly decent, perfectly inoffensive, and perfectly dull
Review: Joel Hershman's "Greenfingers", starring the now-famous (and utterly gorgeous) Clive Owen and Helen Mirren, is a sweet, cutesy, and utterly empty British romantic comedy. In this forgettable, generic chick-flick, inmates at a British minimum-security prison take up gardening. Initially, they are understandably reluctant to garden. But, get this, gardening ends up changing their lives! And, after his parole, Owen's character even commits another crime just so he can go back to prison and garden! And Mirren's character is so impressed with the innmates' gardening that she even has them garden for her! Wow, where do people get this stuff?
Of course, this being a "romantic comedy" and all, there is a romance between Owen and Mirren's daughter that is so incredibly forced, awkward, and contrived that one cannot help but cringe as the two actors attempt to gaze lustfully at each other. In addition, peppered throughout are moments of in-your-face sentimentality and supposed "uplifting moments". And none of it works.
For all its good intentions, "Greenfingers" is as drab and colorless as the cinderblock walls of the inmates' rooms. It's all perfectly decent, perfectly inoffensive, and perfectly dull.
Rating: 
Summary: A charming and beautifully written film - see it!
Review: Once again I am left wondering if the NEW YORK TIMES reviewer saw the same film I did. Take my advice - ignore the review and see this film! Joel Hershman has created a real gem on a relatively tiny budget - $3 million - but there are no corners cut anywhere. The actors are beautifully cast, and create an entertaining ensemble effort. Clive Owen is, as all breathing females will soon attest, delicious to watch and David Kelly has all the frailty and humor that we saw in him in WAKING NED DEVINE. I am not generally a fan of Helen Mirren, but she was ideally cast here as a proper gardening British lady of a certain age. I was particularly impressed by Mr. Hershman's screenwriting for this movie - very compact, very funny and on a number of occasions very touching without being maudlin. A very rewarding movie going experience in a summer otherwise characterized by mind-numbing violence, speed and foul language. I am looking forward to Mr. Hershman's future work -
Rating: 
Summary: Slight but sweet, sentiment without sentimentality
Review: Rottentomatoes.com, netflix, and Amazon reviews have taught me something astonishing: literate users of the latter services usually have better and more reliable taste than the professional critics collected on Rotten Tomatoes. Case in point: GREENFINGERS. Less than half the critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a favorable rating, but Amazon & netflix reviewers give it 4 ½ stars. Apparently we appreciate its typically British understatement, mild humor, and a story which may be slight of plot but which doesn't slight its characters. (Hmmm...these are qualities which fans of LOST IN TRANSLATION claim to find in that movie. Perhaps if GREENFINGERS' director were named Coppola instead of Hershman, then he would be up for an Oscar, along with Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, and the rest of the cast and crew.)If you liked WAKING NED DEVINE or LOCAL HERO or any of a number of small, well-crafted British films about the character of ordinary people, you will probably enjoy this movie. It lacks gratuitous nudity, violence and profanity, graphic sex, special effects wizardry, and cheap shots at other cultures, but these omissions just make it better. The film is technically as self-effacing as the performances - - all in the service of story, rather than for calling attention to the makers' cleverness, or hipness, or at least what masquerades as such among the unenlightened. This is a movie about growth and transformation, not about stasis. It is about people with the character to make the most of their situation in life, no matter how apparently bleak. It is about the heroism of daily struggle to find meaning and value in the small things of everyday life, about simple faith, about making a difference, about love, forgiveness, and redemption, and ultimately about what it is to be human. Four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely...
Review: The first word that comes to mind when I think of this British film is "lovely." It's a wonderful comedy with a touch of drama and romance -- a perfectly lovely combination, if you ask me... The story, which is based on true events, revolves around Colin (Clive Owen), a prison inmate who's transferred to an experimental prison called Edgefield. There, inmates live with more freedom. There aren't any high fences or armed guards. And each inmate gets to do a job that will give him the experience he needs to get hired once he's released. Colin is a somewhat anti-social prisoner who won't talk to anyone -- not even his friendly old roommate, Fergus (David Kelly). But when Fergus gives Colin a package of violet seeds for Christmas, everything starts to change. The violets bloom in the spring, and they give Colin his own personal calling. After the warden finds out about the violets, he appoints Colin and Fergus (along with three other inmates) to create a garden for the prison. Greenfingers is a light-hearted feel-good movie that's guaranteed to put a smile on your face. It's got the same light-but-potent humor as Waking Ned Divine (in which David Kelly played Michael O'Sullivan) -- and it's absolutely perfect for winding down from a long week on a casual Friday night.
Rating:
Summary: ....A Rose by any other name would smell as Sweet....
Review: The tradition of sweet, dopey, "cute" gangsters and prison inmates probably started with Damon Runyon way back in the 1920's and culminated with the musical "Guys and Dolls" in the 40's. The inhabitants of the prison in Joel Hershman's "Greenfingers" are more like Runyon's chracters than they are like those of the "Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrels" variety to be sure. "Greenfingers" is a slight, sweet trifle of a movie lucky enough to have Clive Owen (PBS' "Second Sight") and Helen Mirren (also PBS' "Prime Suspect")as it's chief chracters. Both of these actors are, as usual, excellent and convincing in their roles. The plot revolves around a minimum security prison where a few of it's inmates discover and nurture a love of gardening which ultimately leads them to enter a big time Horticultural event in England. The idea of gardening as a way of life and a national passion is foreign to us here in the USA but in England it is very real and very BIG. "Greenfingers" is full of good cheer and everyone involved seems to be having a great time. Who can object to that?
Rating:
Summary: ....A Rose by any other name would smell as Sweet....
Review: The tradition of sweet, dopey, "cute" gangsters and prison inmates probably started with Damon Runyon way back in the 1920's and culminated with the musical "Guys and Dolls" in the 40's. The inhabitants of the prison in Joel Hershman's "Greenfingers" are more like Runyon's chracters than they are like those of the "Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrels" variety to be sure. "Greenfingers" is a slight, sweet trifle of a movie lucky enough to have Clive Owen (PBS' "Second Sight") and Helen Mirren (also PBS' "Prime Suspect")as it's chief chracters. Both of these actors are, as usual, excellent and convincing in their roles. The plot revolves around a minimum security prison where a few of it's inmates discover and nurture a love of gardening which ultimately leads them to enter a big time Horticultural event in England. The idea of gardening as a way of life and a national passion is foreign to us here in the USA but in England it is very real and very BIG. "Greenfingers" is full of good cheer and everyone involved seems to be having a great time. Who can object to that?
Rating:
Summary: Clive Owen has the Greenthumb
Review: This is a great example of british acting and cinema. Clive is amazing as the prisoner that has a dark secret. He stumbles into gardening at a prison that tries to get the inmates ready for the outside life. It leads to self discover and finding a purpose in the lives of the inmates involve. They even get to enter into some very important contest. They learn by reading a famous gardening experts books , who later sponsors them into contests and exhibts and other work. Helen is also excellent and the supporting cast is awesome! I f you love Clive this is a must see!
Rating:
Summary: Little Gem
Review: This is a movie I had never even heard of, but with my new found love of Clive Owen movies, I had to check this one out. I just loved it, and I enjoyed watching it a second time, and will probably enjoy it as much the third.
It's a sweet, albiet, mostly predictable movie, but I just don't think there is anything wrong with that. I hope that with Clive Owen becomming even more well know that this little gem will get a second chance to be discovered. It's in the model of so manyn other British comedies that come our way, and it's a movie that will keep a smile on your face right through to the end credits. I think people should treat themselves to this sweet prize.
Rating:
Summary: A Light-Fare semi-Chick-Flick
Review: This is an entertaining, light comedy to enjoy with your girl friend, a romantic tale with gardening-and-craft overtones. Throughout the film, I couldn't help thinking about Warren Clarke, who portrayed the prison warden. The defining super-nova of this actor's career HAD to have been his over-the-top, outrageous characterization of the dim-witted Dim, in "A Clockwork Orange" more than 30 years ago. Though I presume Clarke is a superlative stage actor -- he has the demeanor and the delivery -- I cannot imagine anything he has done since the "Dim" role being as uninhibited, energetic and fun.
Rating:
Summary: A rare great film slips out!
Review: This is one GREAT film and a real surprise these days!!!
It is a charming story-well acted and written...the British countryside absolutely beautiful...it may inspire you to hit your own garden more...loved it so much when I rented it on VCR, I came here to snag a copy on DVD.
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