‘Their Finest’ a cool breeze from heat of summer bombast

On July 21, Christopher Nolan will release his next film, a highly anticipated war epic titled “Dunkirk.” For Americans unfamiliar with the battle, a good entry point would be with “Their FInest,” a lighter take on the inspirational heroics that took place during the skirmish, but not necessarily on the battlefield.

Director Lone Scherfig may have hailed from Denmark, but everything about her work in “Their Finest” is decidedly British (in the best possible way).

“Finest” is set at the start of World War II, and Germany is pounding London with bombing raids.

With most of the men at war, the ladies are left to fill various jobs to keep the country running, including at the Ministry of Film, where young writer Catrin Cole (played by Gemma Arterton) decides to take a position in the propaganda division.

After her first job interviewing twin sisters who aided soldiers at the Dunkirk raid, she is promoted to screenwriter, where she works under the watchful, amorous eye of Tom Buckley (played by Sam Claflin). Before long, the war department gets wind of the project and decides it’s exactly what is needed to help rally American troops to the war, casting a Yankee pilot (played by Jake Lacy) in the feature alongside the curmudgeonly Ambrose Hilliard (played by the suitably crusty Bill Nighy).

The film is based on Lissa Evans’s “Their Finest Hour and a Half,” and screenwriter Gaby Chiappe punches up the humor during wartime in much the same way the film’s characters punch up the heroics and patriotism.

But they do not shy away from some of the actual atrocities of the time, and they do make insightful observations on the roles women played even though they did not seem as important as the combat.

Despite the female-centric cast, crew and theme, it is perhaps Bill Nighy who shines brightest as the past-his-prime actor who reminds all who will listen about his former role of Inspector Camforth, a marginal light in the celluloid galaxy. Nighy conveys both crippling insecurity and chest-thumping vanity with aplomb (sometimes in the very same scene).

It’s only in the film’s third act that it pivots toward sap which it is otherwise too smart to avoid, but that small misstep is far from a reason to miss it.  Sentimental, lighthearted fun with a poignant message buried beneath its candy-coated exterior, “Their Finest” is a cool breeze away from the heat of the typical summer bombast.