Common People

This zesty tale of randomly interlinking lives, shot and set entirely on Tooting Common in south London, is full of charming sentiment, even if it feels more like a community am-dram project than anything to be taken too seriously. There’s a pair of old folk talking in doggy language on a bench; an eclectic bunch of drinkers who look like rejects from the presenting cast of a Saturday morning kids’ TV show; a homeless ex-soldier; and a gaggle of annoying Cub Scouts who innocently find abandoned condoms and help a pregnant woman give birth. A missing parrot serves to tie all these strands together. The big idea is that all life is here, unfolding before our eyes over a day or two on the Common. Unfortunately, the whole thing feels extremely forced, and an embarrassment of shoddy writing and acting doesn’t help.