Married mother of two Clover is an executive producer at a television production company.
She is a people-pleaser so when she takes some strong pills for a headache and walks out of her work meeting, it is rather out of character.
Wanting a day to herself, Clover is fast learning to say no and stand up for herself as she makes a splash at a club, has a run-in with some yoga ladies, and deals with an angry artist.
This is like a Ferris Bueller escapade mashed up with Michael Douglas’ serious meltdown in Falling Down.
There’s plenty of funny moments as Clover seizes the day, but some of her antics veered into downright destructive mode which made the Ferrari crashing out of the window in the 1986 film look like small fry.
The flashbacks into Clover’s life fitted in nicely but unlike Ferris, I wasn’t really rooting for her to get off scot-free.
Seventy-nine-year-old Missy has lost her husband, fallen out with her daughter and waved goodbye to her son and grandson. Life has never been so lonely but Missy is resigned to her fate. But when she passes out in the park one day, it's the beginning of something very unexpected for Missy as she finds herself being taken under the wing of Sylvie and her friend Angela and Angela's four-year-old son, Otis.
Slowly, and with the help of one more friend, this time of the four-legged variety, Missy's barriers begin to come down and she starts to realise it's not too late for her to find friendship, love and forgiveness.
Very much in the uplit vein, Saving Missy is typically both heartbreaking and heartwarming, though, in many respects, it's a little different to what one might expect. Greek and classical references, in fitting with Missy's background, distinguish this from the usual run-of-the-mill story, but they don’t feel off-putting.
Missy is also perhaps less of a quintessential protagonist, and although she is purposely something of an introspective and prickly character, I did want to be able to warm to her more. Angela and Otis offer something of an antidote, but, along with Sylvie, I would have liked more from these additional characters. All in all, I felt this was a solid debut, particularly in terms of the narrative and style, but the characters, sadly, just fell a bit short for me. (JC)
