When the staid old Rylstone and District Women's Institute published a calendar of semi-naked women as a fundraiser in 1999, their bold gesture won international publicity. The Women's Institute, after all, is an organization devoted to such areas of domestic exploration as cider pressing, cake baking and the importance of the humble cabbage.

The semi-naked women involved in the calendar were some middle-aged members of the Yorkshire branch itself. Well. You can imagine the uproar. But the women's willingness to doff their duds to raise money for a good cause caused such a kerfuffle that they sold enough calendars around the world to bring in close to $2 million dollars for leukemia research.

That story comes to the screen as Calendar Girls, a very charming, albeit slim story, but that's not the point.

This is the point: If you want to see Helen Mirren, Julie Walters, Geraldine James, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and a whole pack of brilliant British actresses (and actors, such as Ciaran Hinds and John Alderton), this is the movie.

The director, Nigel Cole, also made the delightful Saving Grace, which starred Brenda Blethyn. Take note.

Calendar Girls is The Full Monty for women, with the same regular-folk approach to storytelling and the same entertaining and endearing qualities. And good dialogue.

Julie Walters is Annie and Helen Mirren is Chris, and they are best friends. Both belong to the Women's Institute in their village, and both are a tad naughty; Chris enters a store-bought cake in a major baking competition. Under the circumstances, this is loose cannon territory.

When tragedy changes their lives, the women rally. They want to raise some money for the local hospital. The idea of the calendar is born. There is conflict involved in getting it made, but in the end, their idea wins out.

Fame follows. Calendar Girls then undertakes a fairly odd move for its third act, veering across the ocean to Hollywood, where news of the calendar has made the women famous. Can Chris and Annie maintain their friendship even if Chris goes a bit Hollywood on everyone? Uh, huh. Whatever.

As luck would have it, Mirren and Walters have done such a good job with their roles that it's possible to wade through this seemingly tacked-on finale without losing heart. So the story behind Calendar Girls seems slender. The storytelling is robust, however, because the characters are so fully alive. And that's what counts. Jolly good job, ladies.

(This film is rated PG)

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