Joyride

Olivia Colman excels – as always – in a heartwarming comedy drama about a woman attempting to escape from a difficult situation by going on the run across rural Ireland. In the process she falls in with rogueish 12-year-old Mully who has his own complicated reasons for fleeing home. These mostly involve a large wad of cash which the boy is trying to keep out of the hands of his even more rogueish father. Newcomer Charlie Reid is superb as the tender-hearted but foul-mouthed waif, and the result is a wonderfully entertaining odd-couple comedy that balances laughter with some poignant insights into the hard stuff of parent and child relationships.