Lucky Break

Do you remember the key scene in The Sound of Music when the family Von Trapp sneaks out of Austria one at a time during a singing performance? So do screenwriter Ronan Bennett and director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), who borrowed the idea--and Christopher Plummer, Captain Von Trapp himself--for this farfetched but passably entertaining British prison break comedy. Plummer plays a warden with unrealized Broadway dreams who allows a charmingly surly convict (James Nesbitt) and some fellow inmates (Timothy Spall, Bill Nighy and Lennie James) to stage a Gilbert and Sullivan-styled operetta, which they use as cover for an escape attempt. After showing early signs of creativity, the plot slips into an obvious trajectory (witness Olivia Williams as the pretty, compassionate prison outreach counselor/love interest) and an awkward, unwieldy sentimentality that bogs down the last act. A go-with-the-flow spirit inspires a little lighthearted fluff leeway, but this is still a movie you'll forget five minutes after the credits roll. Optional. (R. Blackwelder)