The capsule summary is that this film is at least as good as its reviews say. I had heard about Calendar Girls a few weeks back and Carol and I decided to go see it during the week in order to get a break and brighten things up.

Brighten things up it did, because the movie is a genuinely enjoyable flick, suitable for almost anyone except those with a hard core bent for violence and gore.

Most of the characters are likable, but flawed, and although the film progresses through a series of reasonably predictable stages, it does so with a surprising amount of energy for a film shot in the middle of nowhere in England.

The acting is superb and the on-location shooting provides a nice set of contrasts as the "girls" move from place to place, exhibiting some of the reasons why this calendar was successful in real life.

However, the account is fictionalized. An article from BBC News tells that half of the original "girls" didn't want to sell their story to the movie industry and thus aren't portrayed truthfully.

Despite that, the basic premise of the film is true to the cause of raising money for charity and is also a fun time.