I will begin by saying that Pete Postlethwaite and Rachel Griffiths are personal favorites. I initially thought I would like this film because they were in it. Not the case at all. I was impressed with the film because it cuts close to the bone of proletarian culture, a widespread proletarian culture of the overeducated and underemployed classes of the so called First World economies, or Northern economies. The film could as easily have been set in Oklahoma. There is a two-step dancing scene that makes this quite obvious. So, on the surface, the story of the older divorced man with the younger liberated single woman seems rather typical, often told. The lads, the pack of macho misfits, also provide much of the predictable bonded male nonsense. And, folks, it is realistic. That's the part that got under my skin. If you grew up in an American suburb and now live in a gated community or a condominium, it might be too painful for you to let some of the movie's message in. Yes, indeed, the few live on the backs of this many. And their lives do indeed reflect the burden. If you are willing to consider what is really happening behind the obvious of this work, I think you will be impressed too.