Critics,are you kidding us

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Colin Briggs (Clive Owen) steals flowers to give to Primrose deliberately breaking his parole. The movie flashes back. He reluctantly goes to the new open progressive Edgefield prison where inmates learn usable skills and live in a less restricted environment. He had gotten used to the hard prison life for 15 years. He had killed his younger brother at 18 in a rage when he found his brother with his girlfriend. He befriends elderly prisoner Fergus Wilks but doesn't take any interest. He gets into a fight with the guys playing football when their ball rolls over Fergus' beloved wild flowers. Governor Hodge comes up with a new skill to teach. Colin, Fergus and the three footballers become gardeners. They are given Georgina Woodhouse (Helen Mirren) gardening books who later is taken by their garden. Colin falls for Georgina's daughter Primrose but Georgina doesn't approved.It's a nice, easy, simplistic movie. I can't really classify it as a prison movie. It's loosely based on a true story. It's really way too easy and simplistic. It lacks any real style. Clive Owen is nice and it has the great Helen Mirren. It doesn't have the greatest of writing. The romantic chemistry is also rather lacking. Colin and the old man have better chemistry. The movie has a nice setup but fades a little towards the end. It could also probably use a few jokes to soften up the audience. The movie is just kind of flat.

Cute little fun movie, but unrealistic about prison life. Guess they had to sweeten it up and not have it as gritty as it really is so regular folks could watch it without getting too upset to see it through. Nice to see anything, however, that shows greater human potential, even in an such an unlikely place as a prison.In a nutshell, prisoners turned gardeners are allowed to enter a snooty English(oxymoron?)garden show and guess what? They win, no surprise there(it's Rocky, remember?).The Rocky concept we see in so many movies we love to hate was here in force but was overcome somewhat by a great cast, especially Clive Owen as the main gardener and main squeeze and Helen Mirren, who was terrific as the English gardening maven who gave it all a chance to be greatness. She was terrific.And, as usual in all Rocky-type films, the little guys won out in the end, but also won out in another way...they became real human beings again and knew they had done something very special(even before they met the queen!). One of them even got the pretty girl.

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.

Great entertaining film. Loved everything about it. Kept my interest throughout. I really cared about the characters. Great to see a movie about anything serious that is not "tongue in cheek" as so many American films seem to be these days. The acting was wonderful but Helen Miren and Clive Owen, always a joy to see, were great. I know when I see their names on a film I will always have a enjoyable view. Loved that it was a true story. Makes me think and want to know more. I will recommend this film to anyone looking for something for everyone. Never listen to critics, they all seem to be a bit jaded about the entire industry.