Gem sparkles in (not) Funny Girl

GEMMA Arterton is terrific as Barbara Parker in Funny Woman. She's warm, witty, almost credible...

Everything the show isn't.

The writing is uneven, the jokes are Twiggy thin and although 1964 Soho is lovingly recreated, the blokes are caricatures.

The oafish mayor puts down his wife in public, a sleazy snapper leers at Barbara when she's crowned Miss Blackpool Belle, a posh predator tries to rape her... all drawn with the subtlety of a caveman's etchings.

The plot is based on Nick Hornby's novel Funny Girl (the "girl", deemed unacceptable now, was right for the time).