A consensus seems to have formed (despite a hint of dissent in our own Peter Bradshaw's review) that Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh's film at the Berlin festival was a triumph and Madonna's Filth And Wisdom an abject failure. Perverse and inexplicable, frankly.

I wonder what Leigh would have made of Madonna's film. Perhaps in his bluff "Mancunian" way, he'd have been generous. Because, really, it wasn't so bad. I went with the lowest of expectations - always an advantage if you want to enjoy a movie, and so I did.

OK, the writing is a bit underpowered, but the film is put together reasonably proficiently, the Ukrainian gypsy hero is lively and likeable (though probably as irritating as Poppy on extended acquaintance), the music is good, there is a happy ending for absolutely everyone involved, and it's blessedly short (81 minutes).

Yes, Madonna's London is unbelievable, but who cares about that? Strictly speaking, Richard E Grant is surplus to requirements in this film, but there's a poignancy in him echoing the role Richard Griffiths played as Uncle Monty in Withnail And I all those years ago. Yes, most of the characters are stereotypes (and in the case of the Indian pharmacist, uncomfortably so), but chunks of Mike Leigh's dialogue are constructed from clichés and he's praised for his realism.

For all the twaddle about filth and wisdom being opposite sides of the same coin, you weren't squirming in your seat. Madonna's film was fun.

Source: The Guardian (found on Drowned Madonna)