REVIEW: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a pleasant bit of British piffle

REVIEW: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is pleasant piffle about the German occupation of a tiny UK island and how life took so long to get back to normal there.

Lily James as Juliet in a scene from film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY (M)

Rating: two and a half stars (2.5 out of 5)

Director: Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral)

Starring: Lily James, Michiel Huisman, Matthew Goode, Penelope Wilton, Jessica Brown Findlay.

Books, spuds and best buds

Based on the best-selling book by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shafer, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a perfectly pleasant ball of period-era fluff.

It is spun from the kind of stuff the British film industry can churn out at will, and almost always find an audience for.

The whole thing drifts attractively across the screen at all times, even though it may not be lodging in your memory for long.

Lily James as Juliet and Michiel Huisman as Dawsey in a scene from film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

The year is 1946, and the dainty little Channel Island of Guernsey is back under British rule after a prolonged period under German occupation during World War Two.

The locals are taking their time getting over the harm and heartbreak of this traumatic period, as indeed they should.

Meanwhile, over on the mainland in London, an author of dainty little books wishes to write something of substance.

With a hit kids book in stores and the royalties flooding in, Juliet Ashton (Lily James) is poised to become the J.K. Rowling of her day.

Glen Powell as Mark Reynolds and Lily James and Juliet in a scene from film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

That is until, against the advice of her publisher (Matthew Goode), she suddenly makes tracks for Guernsey to research a story near, dear and painfully tender to a small community there.

In an act of gentle defiance against the Nazis, a tiny book group met in secret throughout wartime with no agenda other than a shared love of fine writing and good company.

Several members paid a hefty price for their allegiance to the clandestine club, and are understandably reluctant to relive what they went through. Juliet, however, has powers of persuasion that nobody can resist after a while.

Especially Dawsey (Michiel Huisman from Game of Thrones), the strapping young pig farmer who penned the intriguing letter that first brought Juliet to Guernsey in the first place.

The predictable nature of this tale does not totally count out the movie’s chances of worming its way into your affections.

L-R: Katherine Parkinson, Tom Courtenay, Kit Connor, Penelope Wilton, Michiel Huisman and Lily James in a scene from film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Lily James is such an appealing presence on screen no matter the circumstance, and she makes for a fine anchor as Juliet’s softly-softly investigation strikes a hard patch.

What also saves The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from a total blanding-out is a series of fascinating flashbacks to a German occupation so close to Britain itself.

Originally published as REVIEW: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a pleasant bit of British piffle