CinemaSerf
2/12/2023
Yolanda Donlan is the eponymous "Lar" who arrives in Britain as part of a employee swap. She is to work in a factory and see whether or not she can impart any words of wisdom to the staff and the bosses about American working practices. After a while she becomes aware that the local council has eyes on their town. Citing it's "plumbing" as unsuitable for modern day living, they propose to buy up all the houses and relocate the hitherto villagers to a new town. Initially full of vim and vigour, they - led by her new love interest "Bob' (a rather lacklustre Michael Rennie) are gradually worn down until it falls to their feisty and determined visitor to remind them of Magna Carta - and to enliven and embolden their spirits. At times it's a gently rousing comedy drama with a fun "worm that turns" aspect, but that doesn't quite butter the toast here. There are too many lulls in the plot and the rather pedestrian nature of the stereotypical look at the post war British population - exemplified by Peter Butterworth, Reginald Beckwith and Jon Pertwee rather pigeon-hole the "yokel" hosts and leave the "over there over here" mentality just a bit too prevalent for the film to really thrive. It's not terrible, but I wonder how - if it all - it went down in the USA. Here, it's just a bit too reliant on some lazy and uninspired writing.
