TxMike We watched this on DVD last night, New Year's Eve. It says this movie was "inspired" by real events, but I take it the characters are all fictitious. I actually found a Colin J. Briggs who writes gardening books, but I was not able to find out if he is who the main character is based on.Clive Owen is Colin Briggs, and the opening of the movie has him throwing a trash can through the window of a flower shop, getting some yellow roses, and delivering them by bicycle to the home of Primrose, as a way of saying 'goodbye.' Then he calmly waits for the police wagon to pick him up. We find out much later that this is actually near the end of the story and most of the movie is told as a form of flashback.Briggs is in prison because in a fit of passion, as a very young man, killed someone. After 15 years he just figures he will never get out. But a new program designed to prepare prisoners for eventual parole, and skills for a job, has him transferred to a low-security compound. There are no fences and each prisoner shares a dormitory style room with one other prisoner.Briggs finds himself roomed with veteran actor David Kelly as Fergus Wilks, who looks like he won't live too much longer. Wilks was in prison for killing his 3 wives, he became a very bad person when on the booze and turned himself in to avoid further such incidents. He doesn't plan to ever get out. But he and Briggs eventually form a very close friendship.The meat of the story gets going when the governor of the prison asks the inmates to fashion a garden on the grounds. Even though none of them ever did anything like this they took to it, read books, and made a very attractive flower garden. This caught the attention of Helen Mirren as famous master gardener Georgina Woodhouse (which I found today is a very common name in England).Briggs was the natural leader of the group of inmate gardeners, he quickly developed a sense of how to do things. In the process he developed an attraction to Natasha Little as Primrose, the daughter of Georgina. Primrose had no gardening talent, but otherwise a very intelligent and attractive young woman.A very nice movie, a nice story, entertaining, with very good acting. Highly recommended. While it has many romantic-comedy elements, it is not overdone at all, no slapstick.SPOILERS: We find that Briggs was in prison for killing his own brother, whom he caught in the act with the girl he was hoping to marry. He didn't really intend to kill him, but in his rage that was the result. During the story we see, Briggs is the first to be paroled, and even with the help of Georgina is unable to find a gardening job. After months he is still delivering flowers by bicycle. So he decides to return to the low-security prison and his gardening, and that is why he broke into the flower shop, it was the way he broke his parole. The yellow roses signified "goodbye". But Briggs and Primrose were able to talk again at a fancy London flower show the inmates participated in, and he asked her to wait for him when he got out again in a few months. She said she would.

david_kravitz Another gem of a movie in the same mould as Calendar Girls and Ladies in Lavender. The Brits have the total knack of turning nothing stories into films that simply make you feel good. A simple plot. A group of prisoners at an open prison are encouraged to take up gardening as a way to prepare themselves for the outside world, bearing in mind that many of them were murderers. That they succeed and go on to win prizes at prestigious flower shows in England makes for a pleasant hour and a half, or so. The acting is great especially from Clive Owen, Helen Mirren and David Kelly. It was a little disconcerting to listen to Warren Ckarke with a "posh" voice though. The film is base on a true story and is beautifully photographed. Its also great fun to watch. Go rent or, better, go buy it and enjoy it over and over again.

rps-2 Admittedly it takes an innovative talent to work a nude humping scene into a movie about gardening... They seem to be a requirement in every movie these days whether about gardening, guns or geriatrics. But what the heck. It's a nice, happy, funny movie (which is probably why some of the professional critics panned it.) I originally watched it because of Helen Mirren. She is a brilliant actress and I am a fan. But I ended up with a tremendously entertaining movie regardless. The versatile Mirren indeed is great but so is the rest of the cast.It's well shot, well written, well filmed and well produced! A pleasant, British feel-good movie without any Disneyesque American schmaltz.

clayEWI as romantic comedies go, you can basically have the American versions. This film is charming, funny and romantic. It's an ideal date movie. There are ten to one laughs in this film as any formulaic American romantic comedy.I highly recommend this film.