Girls' Night

Jackie (Walters) and sister-in-law Dawn (Blethyn) are chalk 'n' cheese: Jackie, loud and flirty; Dawn, devoted to her family. They work in the same factory in a small northern town and live for bingo, but when Dawn hits the jackpot it's only to discover she has secondary cancer. The solution, Jackie decides, is a Las Vegas holiday. The women meet a grizzled, sexy cowboy (Kristofferson). Granada TV stumped up the money and it shows: the scenes in the factory are pure Coronation Street, circa 1975. But with the onset of Dawn's illness, the tone starts to wobble, part Shirley Valentine cuteness, part Bridges of Madison County gloom. The best moments are those without dialogue (Dawn lying in hospital, the dimmed ward ghostly quiet, rain falling outside). Distinctly soapy, though.