150 Word Review: 'The Ballad of Wallis Island' (2025)
Music folks
Is this modest, aggressively charming comedy also a musical? It could be; songs are sung. Mostly, The Ballad of Wallis Island is a comedic fable about grief and forgiveness, guided by director James Griffith with a gentle hand.
Tim Key (who co-wrote the movie with Tom Basden) stars as Charles, a lonely, eccentric, two-time lottery winner who spends his fortune to reunite a pop-folk duo for a private, one-person concert. As one half of the duo, Basden’s Herb McGwyer is an almost-over-the-hill sell-out who needs the money. What he doesn’t know is that Charles has invited Nell Mortimer, a down-to-earth Carey Mulligan, once Herb’s partner in music and love. They haven’t seen each other in nine years. Her upbeat American husband is in tow.
Whenever The Ballad of Wallis Island threatens to become predictably saccharine, it pulls back and explores unexpected layers in each character. It’s a slow, joyful build.