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500 Miles review – kids hit the road to visit Irish grandad Bill Nighy in YA tearjerker

Nighy is the Dingle dwelling grandfather of a Sheffield family in strife in sentimental adaptation of Mark Lowery’s novel Charlie and Me This, sadly, is not a biopic of the Proclaimers, but a family tearjerker adapted from Charlie and Me, Mark Lowery’s novel for older children, an adventure about a teenage boy who runs away from home with his little brother to go to their grandad’s. It’s a sentimental film that requires a cast of fine actors to squelch through some fairly heavy slush. Among them, Bill Nighy as the grandad seems to suffer from some kind of reverse Samson effect with a rugged beard that might be to blame for his charisma dip. The film switches between time periods. In the present, teenager Finn (Roman Griffin Davis) runs away after overhearing his separating parents (Clare Dunne and Michael Socha) arguing about who gets which child in the split. Finn takes his scampish you

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According to The Guardian’s source item, 500 Miles review – kids hit the road to visit Irish grandad Bill Nighy in YA tearjerker, Nighy is the Dingle dwelling grandfather of a Sheffield family in strife in sentimental adaptation of Mark Lowery’s novel Charlie and Me This, sadly, is not a biopic of the Proclaimers, but a family tearjerker adapted from Charlie and Me, Mark Lowery’s novel for older children, an adventure about a teenage boy who runs away from home with his little brother to go to their grandad’s. It’s a sentimental film that requires a cast of fine actors to squelch through some fairly heavy slush. Among them, Bill Nighy as the grandad seems to suffer from some kind of reverse Samson effect with a rugged beard that might be to blame for his charisma dip. The film switches between time periods. In the present, teenager Finn (Roman Griffin Davis) runs away after overhearing his separating parents (Clare Dunne and Michael Socha) arguing about who gets which child in the split. Finn takes his scampish you

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Culture file for readers following arts, entertainment, fashion, film, music, celebrity, and the business of culture. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-06-23T10:00:25+00:00.

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Primary source: 500 Miles review – kids hit the road to visit Irish grandad Bill Nighy in YA tearjerker via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.

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