praise be the only thing i can give this comedic gem of a film . gibbon character come vividly to life in this perfect adaptation of her retro austin book . kate beckinsale give the best performance of her gifted career a robert poste child and flora who take up an invitation to cold comfort farm with the motive of change her extended family and the starkadders and who reside there ( there have always be starkadders at cold comfort farm ) and and find out what the great wrong be that they have do her father and a wrong that they be most repentant of . by film end she have accomplish one of these goal . the cast be sheer perfection . beckinsale be vivacious and perky and gutsy and completly charm and sheila burrell be a riot a family matriarch ada doom who keep a tight leash on her family and hardly leave her room since she saw somthing nasty in the woodshed . sir ian mckellen be dynamic and utterly hysterical a cousin amo starkadder who preach fire and brimstone sermon warn all that in hell there be no butter to sooth the burn . eileen atkins a amos wife and cousin judith and freddy jones a their hired hand be also standouts and but with such a perfect cast there be no weak link and so take sit back and take a journey to the far region of sussex with flora poste and investigate the quirky starkadder family and with secret aplenty at cold comfort farm . once there you will want to make many more visit .