Lawrence Montague (Bill Nighy) is a lonely weary civil servant working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. One day in an over-crowded café, he sits down in Gina Taunton (Kelly Macdonald)'s booth. They shyly hit it off. He brings her to the G8 summit in Reykjavík, Iceland. One of the issues is a fund to battle poverty especially in Africa. She begins to advocate for it to the horror of his coworkers. He decides to work to bring real change to the issue.Bill Nighy and Kelly Macdonald are two of my favorite actors. I'm even willing to overlook their age difference because the characters see the issue themselves. Their awkward exchanges are endearing. The political stuff is a bit clunky. It might be more compelling for the program to be smaller and more physically substantive in the movie like saving an orphanage. It's just so ethereal. I prefer less of that and more of their relationship.

We all know, deep in our selves what we can do that we are not. And we suspect what that could mean, so there is always a place that a movie like this can touch. If you haven't yet seen it, its a romance in the traditional movie sense, or at least it promises to be. And once it has you in that groove, with two damaged souls together in a foreign country, it switches to a different sort of fantasy: saving Africa. But as we've been inserted into the thing by one of the most powerful target stories ever discovered — the romance — we flow into it with different eyes. Its a matter of committing. Just where in an ordinary date movie where the couple commits to each other over swelling music, here we have the 8 finance ministers (the G7 plus Russia) committing to do what we know can be done. Or do they? The movie ends with strong ambiguity, with the worst option being that someone who could, stood up. See the engineering, the co-opting of one form for another purpose? See how deftly we are guided to where we want to be, to want to do something? See how wonderfully sticky these target stories are?I should warn you that if you see this, you will either come away a bit more likely to actually do something. Or you will not, in which case you will plant a seed of self-loathing that may be too much to bear.The actors here have very apt instincts, instincts that both work and are okay for TeeVee for which this was made. The stage is so small because the small screen cannot envelop two souls. So you have to do this back and forth business where the relationship has to be carried in faces and timing. I assume dialogs were shot with two cameras simultaneously.There are three actors involved here: the two we normally see: the reluctant lovers stumbling into a future together, and a third, the politician who gets seduced into the story. In order for the transference bit to work, the two need to seduce each other according to movielaws close enough to what we know we buy it. Then they as a unit, a joined soul need to seduce the politician. Imagine the challenge for the actors.It works. The writing on this is so clean, so delicately balanced, and yet so forcefully energetic that I must go and watch Blackadder. I see the writer here did those, many of them. Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I love watching Bill Nighy. He's got the emotional range most actors envy. Doubt this? Try watching SHAUN OF THE DEAD and then LOVE ACTUALLY and you'll see what I mean. He can be dry as a bone one minute (Shaun of the Dead) and funnily spirited the next (Love Actually).So when I learned that he'd been in an Emmy winning TV movie, I leapt at the chance to see it.THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ is your basic character story with some fine acting ...if a bit stilted. The stilted feel really isn't that big of a surprise considering this was a made-for-TV flick. Although there was some nudity (which I'm sure was not shown on U.S. television and saved for DVD), the story does have that prime-time feel to it rather than big screen chops.The story is that of Lawrence (Bill Nighy) and Gina (Kelly Macdonald), two lonely souls who meet one day in a café. Lawrence works for the government as an analyst who's preparing for the G8 summit in Iceland. Gina is ...well ...we're not quite sure in the beginning what Gina does. But she's attractive and Lawrence and she chat briefly during the lunch hour. They arrange a second "date" and meet later that week. Lawrence confides much of his job to Gina, telling her about Britain's battle to lead the fight against third world poverty and AIDS, but also mixing his own sense of defeat into the conversation, knowing that much of what he's doing will be bartered down to almost nil come summit-time talks.Gina seems to take most of this in stride, hardly raising an eyebrow at the horrors of money over meals that Lawrence feeds her mind. That is until Lawrence invites her to accompany him to Iceland for the G8 talks.Time and again Gina opens her mouth during high-level dinners and lets spew her mind about the number of dead and dying in third world countries that Lawrence told her in confidence. Battling his job versus his growing attraction for Gina, Lawrence risks all by keeping her at his side.In the end we learn that Gina's past is directly connected with death and that she's not working because of her recent release from prison.Although Kelly Macdonald does an admirable job as the lost but vocal Gina, her lines seemed overly-rehearsed or set to a teleprompter, while Billy Nighy delivers his in an uncomfortable fashion befitting a man who has poor woman skills.The dangers of losing oneself in a thankless job are hit hard within the film's framework, while also showing the battle we forge when trying to form bonds with those of the opposite sex. All of this is done with the G8 Summit looming heavily in the political background, making for some strikingly nervous dialogue that you know will be coming from Gina as the film continues.In the end, this is a good made-for-TV film that Bill Nighy fans should check out.

This movie is a gem. It starts off on a simple premise, a shy older man meeting equally shy young woman, and having them slowly and painfully develop a relationship. You learn a lot about the older man, but the young woman is a mystery, her character unrevealed, but half way through the movie she starts to assert herself, and her character then comes out and takes the movie on a completely unexpected direction.Lawrence is so shy and awkward he is almost a parody but Bill Nighy manages to present the character in an open and expressive way that is believable and interesting. So many of these types of characters are presented as repressed, which stifles the actor and makes the character less attractive but Lawrence honestly and openly shows his inner turmoil which makes the character very appealing.Gina is also shy, but as presented by Kelly Macdonald there is much more than that going on. She seems to be in pain, and her shyness is mixed with fear. Her vulnerability enhances her attractiveness, and Lawrence cannot stop thinking about her. We never quite find out why she is attracted to him, but the attraction between the two characters is strong and believable, and forms the core of this movie.As is usual in movies from the UK, the supporting roles are not just simple stereotypes but fully formed complex characters giving the actors who play them a lot to work with, and they all succeed in beautifully bringing all these characters to life.If you like your movies simple, well written, beautifully acted, you will enjoy this. I really enjoyed it. I hope the producer does a sequel because I would like to spend some more time with Gina and Lawrence.