= 3 stars

Starring Clive Owen, Hellen Mirren, Natasha Little
Directed by Joel Hershman

Amazon Link

Our Netflix queue is in a strange place where we’re receiving DVDs neither of us can remember requesting. The mystery movie Greenfingers I nearly sent back, but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit - mostly due to a somber performance by Clive Owen.

Colin Briggs (Clive Owen) is in prison for life, but happens upon a hobby seemingly too “pretty” for the hardened criminal - flower gardening. He and a few other criminals take cultivation seriously enough that they impress gardening author Georgina Woodhouse (Helen Mirren) and are given the chance to enter a prestigious competition.

Of the British persuasion, Greenfingers is cell-mate to other losers-become-winners flicks like The Committments, The Full Monty, or Calendar Girls (also starring Mirren) but with enough diversions from the usual story that I persevered to the end. This is mostly due to the brooding darkness of Clive Owen, who never lets go of the idea that he’s a prisoner. There are also some fairly interesting complications between Colin and Georgina’s daughter, Primrose (Natasha Little) that makes up the film’s opening. I actually found the second half of Greenfingers more interesting than the first.

The soundtrack also caught my interest as two songs in particular (Sowing The Seeds Of Love and All I Want Is You) seem so woven-in that they could have been scored.

The movie’s biggest failing is a lack of suspense in regards to the central gardening element - one pretty much knows success awaits the inmates no matter how much the cards seem stacked against them. The prisoners are also portrayed as such nice guys that the prison resembles a boarding school than the big house. In conclusion, Greenfingers ain’t Shawshank Redemption or Bend It Like Beckham but a fair amalgam of the two.

IMDB: Greenfingers
Wikipedia: Greenfingers
Rotten Tomatoes: Greenfingers 47%

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