Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I had never heard of this film and so didn't know what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised. Well written, well filmed and with some great performances. Amusing, idiosyncratic with typical Allotment politics throughout. Hardly a Citizen Kane or a Casablanca, but there are worse ways to spend an hour and a half. You feel pleasantly refreshed after watching it.

Excellent Movie, a quiet cinematic piece where the right balance between the loveliness and the horrors of human life is found. Great Job! All actors did a good job in keeping their characters ell grounded. Not being English myself but European and more of a world citizen I can really appreciate the picture portrait by each and every actor and how wonderful the story is without beginning or end. In the end everything is as it was: a growing community. No judgement given. I really enjoyed that there was no violence or vile words. And this is the England and people we have found here and in other European countries. The emotions of being refugees or immigrant or different is just like it has been portrait here. Not important enough to make it into a political debate. Let just stay human and go on and grow together!

I was thrilled by the fresh (pun intended) synopsis of this film and looking forward to watch it. The first few shots introduce some of the characters as well as the main location where the stories take place; the gardening allotments. The movie looks fantastic. Colorful yet simple. Magical yet genuine. Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes to figure out where the movie will go. We quickly figure out this will be a manipulative, sappy tale illustrating a bunch of jaded people set in their ways confronted by "nice victimized" refugees and that it will have a happy ending where the jaded people realize the error of their ways and accept these people. The characters, particularly the prejudiced ones, are very "comic-booky" in nature. The story focuses mainly on two refugee families. One of them is headed by a single mom played atrociously by Diveen Henry. I am saddened to say that any emotion that might have been felt toward her struggles were defused by what was memorably bad acting.The other story is much more interesting and focuses on a father and his two children. All are scarred by their journey to this country by way of containers, where the wife and mother died but it is the husband who suffers the most. Benedict Wong gives a mind-blowing performance here. At first, his emotions are very subdued but as the story develops, he subtly makes us aware of the inner-struggles of his character. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is just extremely boring. There were so many possibilities with this movie. There are several characters to keep track of, many of which might have potential but none of it is realized. Even worse, despite this movie being very much not Hollywoodian, some of the main plot threads are solved cheaply in a Hollywood b-grade way. Example:Character A likes character B Character B rejects his advances No problem! Let's have character C declare her love for character A so we can all have a happy ending. Yawn. I liked very much the plot thread of the Asian family. That was well done. Unfortunately, the whole allotment business, the communal aspect of it, the dynamic involving a large cast are all under exploited.What you're left with is a movie that has very little worth.

I saw Grow Your Own at a test screening and while it's not edgy indie fare, it was properly funny. The audience laughed loud and frequently, it was well crafted and overall I thought the film delivered. It felt to me like one of the better Ealing Comedies, focusing as it does on an insular community of allotment growers being forced to accommodate unexpected change from outsiders, in this case traumatised refugees. The cast included familiar comic types like Olivia Coleman and Omid Djalili (both excellent) and Benedict Wong (Sunshine) is riveting as an emotionally scared asylum seeker with a horrifying story to tell. Some story lines were better than others but where the film worked brilliantly was showing how loneliness, trauma and thoughtless behaviour are balanced by kind words and community spirit without resorting to sentimentalism or unrealistic plot twists. Really entertaining.