Their Finest (2017)

It is ironic that this is the more or less the first film I've seen since the excellent Dunkirk as this film ties in well to Dunkirk.
It is London, 1940. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) needs a job, considering her disabled husband, Ellis (Jack Huston) isn't making any money off his paintings and keeps threatening to send her back to their former home in Wales because they can't afford the rent. Fortunately, she finds one, writing for the Ministry of Information, bringing the war to the people. She first starts out by writing short, informative films getting the British citizens more involved with the war effort. And then they stumble upon the story of two British twins who stole their father's boat and sailed to the French coast of Dunkirk to rescue the soldiers stranded there. Now, the story is lie, they never made it because of engine failure but because Catrin needs a better paycheck she lies to the Ministry. And then they fictionalize the story anyway. They make the twins, younger, more attractive and with actual personalities. They add a love interest and then, to drum up American interest, an American journalist which gives the love triangle its third point.
The actual characters are also interesting. There is the stick in the mud but talented writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and the aging actor who still wants to be young, Ambrose Hilliard (the always great Bill Nighy) along with his Polish agent Sammy (Eddie Marsan) who always brings his loyal dog with him. Unfortunately, Sammy dies replaced by his equally interesting sister Sophie (Helen McCrory) who finally calls Ambrose out, stating that he is too old to play the hero and she won't keep out of work actors on her pay role. There is also Phyl Moore (Rachel Stirling) who hints at being a lesbian and the lone American soldier Carl Lundbeck (Jake Lacy) who might be a great soldier and a pretty face but can't act.
The story is also very meta, with a love triangle with the actual characters along with the film characters. Tom clearly likes Catrin, but she's married, or so we're led to believe. When she returns for his own big break, she finds him literally mid-sex with someone else. She leaves him on the spot, but at least he lets her keep the apartment. And, they're actually not married. Just shacking up together. She had to buy her fake wedding ring herself.
My main problem with the film is that just after she and Tom finally share their first kiss, he gets killed by a large camera light falling down, literally crushing him to death. That kiss was a long time coming, with Tom struggling to write the proper ending to the film after he and Catrin (really Catherine) had an argument so she ended up writing the ending, and fixing things between her and Tom. And then he dies. He died far too soon after their first kiss, such a betrayal and in front of her very eyes. That was my sole problem with the film. Such a shame.
She also suffers from writer's block but Ambrose encourages her to get back in the field, as she has been given an opportunity that she cannot waste. So she goes back to work.
While the real life characters don't stray into stereotypes, the fake film isn't that lucky. They try to have the male hero fix the broken boat propeller though, in the end, one of the twins does it. The audience loves the film and Catrin will continue writing. She's lucky, I wish I could catch a break like that. However, I would not want my country to be at war with bombs falling all around me and people that I loved dying every day. As one of the characters said, life really is too short to waste it.
Seeing this film is not a waste. Grade: B+