ben and ( rupert grint ) and be a deeply unhappy adolescent and the son of his unhappily married parent . his father and ( nicholas farrell ) and be a vicar and his mother and ( laura linney ) and be . well and let just say she a somewhat hypocritical soldier in jesus army . it only when he take a summer job a an assistant to a foul mouth and eccentric and once famous and now forget actress evie walton and ( julie walter ) and that he finally find himself in true harold and maude fashion . of course and evie be deeply unhappy herself and it only when these two sad sack find each other that they can put their mutual misery aside and hit the road to happiness . of course it corny and sentimental and very predictable but it have a hard side to it and too and walter and who could sleep walk her way through this sort of thing if she want and be excellent . it when she put the craziness to one side and find the pathos in the character and ( like hit the bottle and throw up in the sink ) and that she at her best . the problem be she the only interesting character in the film ( and it not because of the script which doesn not do anybody any favour ) . grint and on the other hand and isn not just unhappy while he a bit of a bore as well while linney starch bitch be completely one dimensional . ( still and she get the english accent off pat ) . the best that can be say for it be that it mildly enjoyable with the emphasis on the mildly .