It’s tough being a movie ‘critic’. Tough because its hard to come up with a template or a guide for what makes one movie better than the other because how can you really, truly compare Avengers: Endgame with Parasite. For me, if you’ve been reading for a while will probably have guessed, it’s all about the story, then the acting, and then whether it stands out in its genre. Now Fisherman’s Friends is a good story, with good acting, but it's just a feel good movie. And that is more than OK because that's the last but very important part of the movie puzzle for me. How did it make me feel? And Fisherman’s Friends would have to be the feel good film of the year. 

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While on a stag weekend in Cornwall a London music executive is pranked by his boss into trying to sign a group of shanty-singing fishermen. Attempting to overcome the fishermen’s skepticism about the music business, he finds himself drawn into the community, has his integrity tested and ultimately is shown the meaning of loyalty, love and friendship. 

 

While Fisherman’s Friends starts out as being a film about a bunch of hairy fisherman getting a record deal belting out old sea shanties it quickly becomes more of a film about Danny, the record executive who is trying to sign them. He’s lived a life chasing status, fame, and fortune but ended up empty. In the midst of the close community of Port Isaac he goes on a journey discovering what really, truly does matter when all is said and done. People, people, people. Its a film that really does hit you in the feels. 

 

The large talented and experienced ensemble cast are wonderful, the sea shanties are funny and genuinely moving, Port Isaac looks like a little slice of paradise, and it’s filled with belting British humor. What more could you ask for?

 

Sea shanties, belting British humor, and a journey of discovery filled to the brim with heart and passion make Fisherman’s Friends the most heart warming film of the year.