New British blockbuster hailed as ‘one of the greatest of all time’

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A new British film has been hailed as ‘one of the greatest of all time’ by rom-com legend Richard Curtis.

The Love, Actually director heaped praise onto The Ballad of Wallis Island, which hasn’t even hit cinemas yet.

It sees two former bandmates and lovers come back together for a supposed one-off gig for an eccentric and reclusive lottery winner who happens to be a super fan.

Starring Tim Key, Tom Basden, and Carey Mulligan, the film will be released on May 30 in the UK and has already found a huge fan in Richard, 68.

Speaking to Alex Jones and Harry Judd on their podcast Binge, he said: ‘This is one of the ten greatest British movies of all time.’

Richard continued: ‘It’s about pop music, it’s about loneliness, really romantic in a kind of muddy way. It’s set on an island in Wales.’

The Ballad of Wallis Island will be released in the UK in May (Picture: AP)

Alex declared his praise was the ‘most watertight recommendation’ they had had on the show, adding: ‘It doesn’t get better than that’.

‘British, romantic, musical film,’ the About Time director concluded his praise.

For the past three decades, Richard has remained one of the biggest names in the film industry, mostly known for his British romantic comedies.

His breakout screenwriting hit came in 1994 with Four Weddings and a Funeral, before Bean (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001).

Richard then turned his hand to directing with 2003’s Christmas classic, Love Actually, solidifying his reputation.

Richard Curtis praised the film as ‘one of the greatest’ (Picture: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

His film About Time, released in 2013, remains a gem in his filmography, with the director previously telling Metro he had a hard time cutting the swear words down.

‘They said to me if you can get it down to 16 swear words, it can be a – whatever it was – a PG or something,’ Richard shared. ‘And I remember saying to the editor, “Well, that’s great, because there are only like 20!”

‘And he came back the next day and said there are 76 swear words – so it was lovely for me to be able to behave better.’

About Time ended up rated a 12 for ‘infrequent strong language’, not quite under 20 swear words then.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is directed by Black-ish producer James Griffiths, originally premiering as a short film in 2006.

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Of his character Charles, Tim Key shared with ScreenRant: ‘He meets his hero and, not that he notices completely, [it] immediately goes really badly. I guess he’s just very resilient.

‘I think maybe he’s been through a lot. I think he’s hardwired to see the good in people. Even though he’s met with this very surly man, he kind of thinks it’ll all work out in the end.’

He shared that so far the response from viewers has been ‘feel-good’ even though this wasn’t the initial plan.

James added he gets ‘quite touched’ when he watches it back, given it’s been a 20-year project.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is in cinemas on May 30, 2025.

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