It's uncomplicated fare, overly spiced with 60s cliches, right down to the louche fashion photographer who lies on his back to snap his pics. But the film is also robust, amiable and so warm-hearted you'd be a churl to take against it.
Made in Dagenham tempers the serious stuff of industrial relations and gender politics with dramatic tension and comic relief.
Any real source of strife arrives too late in the film and is resolved too easily to create much dramatic tension, which means that the most interesting aspect of the story is raised but never properly explored.
While the political grit behind the saga is somewhat sidelined, this is a fun watch enhanced by its stellar British cast.
The sunny approach works best when shining a light on the depressing sexism of the times.
The movie spreads equal quantities of pained bemusement around the theatre, its earnest cheer certain to hit you in the eye wherever you sit.
It’s jolly stuff, yet for all the bawdy banter, there’s a Boat That Rocked-like sense of a genuinely interesting moment being regurgitated as a cuddly sitcom.
An inspirational and timely tale.
Made in Dagenham goes against the bittersweet/miserablist grain.
It should be stirring, and to a degree it is; but its narrative is all plod, and nuance is virtually nonexistent.
Offhandedly touching and safe as houses, it’s the breeziest film you can imagine about risking everything for a fairer slice of the pie.
Made In Dagenham is told in an old fashioned, genteel manner that’s more charming than compelling, thanks largely to Hawkins’ sturdy performance and the superb cast who bring some much need va, va, voom to proceedings.
It does have a tendency to go on a bit, subplots are undernourished and it never fully demonstrates why it’s not just a television drama.
Whatever its faults, it's a story worth telling.
Largely fictionalised and mostly predictable, yet manages by its heart-on-sleeve openness to be oddly touching.
The trouble with Made In Dagenham, the latest feel-good Brit-caper from the director of Calendar Girls, is that it's based on a true story, but not much of it rings true.
Feelgood factories
The lucky star with reasons to be cheerful
Rosamund Pike interview
Sally Hawkins interview: on 'Made in Dagenham;
Interview: Sally Hawkins, Made in Dagenham actress
Self-doubter Sally Hawkins
Modern sisterhood: Made In Dagenham
The Night I won a Golden Globe
Women didn't just strike in Dagenham
Women rule the world...but only if it's Made in Dagenham
Letters: The leading players forgotten by Made in Dagenham
Made in Dagenham: the day reality struck home
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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