A grandfather tells his grandson the story behind the nickname 'The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain'. It's 1917. English cartographers Reginald Anson (Hugh Grant) and George Garrad (Ian McNeice) come to the small Wales village of Ffynnon Garw. The locals consider it the first mountain inside of Wales but it has to be at least 1000ft for it to be called a mountain. Morgan the Goat (Colm Meaney) is the womanizing scheming pub owner. Everybody is shocked at the mountain being calculated as only a hill. Morgan suggests adding 20ft to the mountain, Reverend Jones demands that the soil be taken from their garden and Johnny Shellshocked (Ian Hart) convinces everybody that it can be done. Morgan schemes to keep the cartographers from leaving with the help of Betty from Cardiff (Tara Fitzgerald).

It's a light fluffy little comedy. The humor is charming. It needs something with a bit of edge. Tara Fitzgerald could have been that biting edge. She needs to be in the movie right from the beginning. The romance could be much better considering the two actors. It's probably that her character is faking and his character is clueless. They don't have quite the right chemistry. The rest headed by Colm Meaney has a lot of charm and carries the day in the end.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain is directed by Christopher Monger and written by Ivor Monger. It stars Hugh Grant, Ian McNeice, Tara Fitzgerald, Colm Meaney and Kenneth Griffith. Music is by Stephen Endelman and cinematography by Vernon Layton.

Set in 1917, plot finds Grant and McNeice as two English cartographers who arrive in the Welsh village of Ffynnon Garw to measure what the locals proudly proclaim to be Wales' first mountain. However, it turns out that the "mountain" is 16 feet below the required 1000 feet requisite so therefore can only be classed as a hill. This news causes disgust amongst the locals, who then set about stopping the cartographers going home whilst they attempt to build atop of the hill to make it over 1000 feet.

A film with a big title that is matched by the size of its heart, Monger's film owes much to those fun community based pictures that filed out of Ealing Studios back in the 40s and 50s, Re: Whisky Galore! and The Titfield Thunderbolt. We can also safely place it the whimsy category where something as wonderful as Local Hero sits, while the old British comedy staple that encompasses an obsession with size (The Mouse That Roared) watches over the film like an approving British cinematic angel.

Homespun humour marries up with the utterly engaging view of quirky village life to provide us with just under 100 minutes of entertainment. Although clearly simple in plot and structure, to simply dismiss it as such does not do justice to the fine work of the ensemble cast and the writing of Ivor and Chris Monger. With Grant doing what he does best, the amiable nervous fop, picture has a lead actor fully comfortable with the tone and texture of the production, while around him there are a number of fine character actors putting delightful meat on the comedy bones of oddball characters with names such as Morgan the Goat, Johny Shellshock, William the Petroleum and Betty from Cardiff! Best of the bunch is Griffith as Reverend Jones, a grumpy, stubborn eccentric who underpins everything so wonderfully skew-whiff about life in Ffynnon Garw.

As for the writing? The screenplay has a wonderful ear for small village dialogue, while in amongst the value of community spirit theme, sits a near sombre observation of the effects of war on such a community. The production design is appealing, with Layton's photography around the Powys locations a visual treat, and Endelman's music has a suitably warming and jaunty feel; even if it starts to get a touch repetitive later in the piece. It doesn't have widespread appeal, it's clearly a film aimed at a small portion of film fans that love those films mentioned earlier. But in an era when film is being smothered by CGI and visual gimmickry, revisiting something like The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain offers up a most refreshing and diverting experience. 8/10

A delightful, hugely underrated romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant. It's a crime that one of Hugh Grant's best films is hardly ever mentioned in interviews with him or articles about him, and is usually only listed in complete listings of Grant's films. Written and directed by Christopher Monger, and based on a (true?) story told to him by his grandfather, the film is set in rural South Wales during World War One. The story centers around two surveyors, one played by Grant, sent to map the terrain of South Wales. Using a village as a base, the surveyors redefine a local mountain as a hill, causing much consternation among the villagers. The villagers engage in devious activities to keep the surveyors in the village, while they literally add height to the hill to make it a mountain. Hugh Grant is on top form as the shy and inarticulate surveyor, and is helped by an excellent supporting cast. Beautiful cinematography and appropriately celtic music are icing on the cake of this thoroughly enjoyable film. Like "Local Hero", "The Englishman" is made in the style of the British Ealing comedies of the forties, and in this reviewers opinion, captures even more successfully the spirit of a small rural village taking on and beating the system.