BANK OF DAVE

Here's the decision. BANK OF DAVE is a truly great, entertaining underdog story — the kind that leaves you cheering. It's based on the real Dave Fishwick, a self-made millionaire who set out to open a bank for his struggling hometown when no one had dared apply in 150 years. The messages are rich: the dignity of every person regardless of wealth, love and care for neighbors, and the courage to do right even when the odds are stacked impossibly high.

The costs are modest but real. There's foul language — a few "f" words and frequent "s" words, though much of it is muffled in thick British accents. There are drinking scenes, including intoxication and a character who guzzles wine to mask emotional pain. And the story carries adult themes.

So: if you're a teen or an adult who enjoys a warm, morally uplifting story, take the trip — this one earns its cheers. If you're choosing for younger children, hold off, or watch with them and talk it through.

Dave Fishwick made his fortune selling vans, and he loves his town. When the latest recession slams Burnley, the big banks squeeze ordinary people with exorbitant fees — then fail, take a government bailout funded by those same people's taxes, and hand their executives millions in bonuses.

Dave, blessed with wealth, starts lending to his neighbors himself. Every loan gets paid back in full. New businesses spring up, jobs appear, and an idea takes hold: what if he opened his own bank? The London legal establishment sends a junior lawyer named Hugh to let Dave down gently. What happens next is the heart of the film.

Four stars, and they're well earned. This is a feel-good underdog story done right — an ordinary man taking on a system built to crush him, and doing it with heart. The film knows exactly what it is and delivers the goods: you root for Dave, you root for the town, and you feel the fight.

It moves with real momentum, from Dave's community lending to the courtroom showdown where the case turns on a moment of truth. There's warmth in the supporting characters, too — the doctor who dreams of a free clinic, the young lawyer slowly won over by a place he came to dismiss. The result is genuinely uplifting filmmaking that doesn't have to work hard to earn your affection.

BANK OF DAVE carries a strong, morally uplifting worldview that lines up with much of what Scripture honors. It extols the inherent importance and dignity of every person, regardless of status or wealth. It promotes liberty, personal responsibility, private charity, and love for one's neighbors — Dave lends freely, asks nothing dishonest, and pours the bank's profits back into the needy of Burnley. These sentiments echo the biblical call to care for others.

The film is openly pro-capitalist and anti-socialist. It argues that generous free enterprise prospers a community while big government destroys it — showing bailouts that reward the corrupt, bureaucrats who decide which lives are worth saving, and a state that even sends police to arrest Dave while a prosecutor commits perjury. The socialist antagonists are greedy and selfish, and they're rebuked and defeated.

There's a genuinely moving church scene, too. At a nurse's funeral, the pastor speaks in the name of Jesus Christ — "The Lord said, I love you and I will never leave you" — and Dave insists the real heroes aren't politicians but ordinary people who spend their lives serving others.

That's the film's deepest note: wealth is a trust, meant to be spent on people. Jesus said as much to a rich young man: "sell what you possess and give to the poor" (Matthew 19:21).

BANK OF DAVE is a warm, cheer-out-loud true story about one man who believed his neighbors mattered more than the money men — and proved it. It's got a little foul language, some drinking, and grown-up themes, so keep the younger ones in mind. But for the family's teens and up, this one's a gift: worth the trip — teens and adults.