Most critics approve, and for the same reasons. The praise clusters around Mike Leigh’s improvisational method, which several reviews credit with producing scenes that feel lived rather than written, and around a cast that works as a true ensemble. Brenda Blethyn’s Cynthia is the performance singled out most often, described as funny and painful in the same breath, with Timothy Spall named beside her more than once. The long two-shot in which mother and daughter first sit down together is the scene critics keep returning to. Many also note the film is warmer than Leigh’s earlier work without losing its eye for class and suburban detail.
The spread is narrow. Variety finds the pacing slack and the structure loose in places, and one or two others mention the slow build without minding it. The Independent reads the film as sentimental melodrama and means it kindly, which is where the only real disagreement sits: how far Leigh’s turn towards hope is a gain. Nobody argues it is a loss.