We Think the World of You

JR Ackerley's wonderfully moving novel wouldn't work without the central relationship between an ageing lonely gay and his Alsatian. Colin Gregg hasn't solved that one - how can you on screen? - and concentrates elsewhere, losing the point in a plethora of Brit caricatures, Liz Smith prominent among them. Bates does his over-familiar mannered queen in melancholy circs, effectively shafting any chance of sympathy, and only Oldman as his unreliable lover gives any sense of layered life, earning a pang as the trap snaps shut upon his prospects.