Parents' Guide to Swede Caroline

From cheating, stealing, and physical attacks, the world of competitive vegetable growing is here given an amusingly earnest mockumentary treatment by debut directors Finn Bruce and Brook Driver. While Swede Caroline boasts a healthy crop of established British actors, it's Hartley's performance that keeps the increasingly absurd story alive throughout the watchable 98-minute runtime. She's as much an oddball as her two misfit friends, yet she's warm and engaging, and Hartley's comedy timing is sharp as a pitchfork. The often hand-held camera style helps viewers discover plot points at the same pace as the characters, and the excuse to talk to camera makes for fun character reflections. Approached like a true crime show, complete with comments like "the first few hours are critical," it's intense, over-dramatic—characters wield swords and wear armor to approach an intruder—and a lot of fun. Some storylines, such as the swingers across the road, feel a little convoluted when they're better suited to a quick one-liner, and there are some lazy jokes at the expense of others. But overall it's a fun, well-meaning comedy that sets the directors as ones to watch on the U.K. comedy circuit.