You can find them in most British pubs - the little group of elderly men cracking gags, quaffing pints and watching the world go by from the public bar.

Jack (Caine), Vic (Courtenay), Lenny (David Hemmings) and Ray (Hoskins) are such a gang of quietly affable chums (except when they've had a few) propping up the bar in a scruffy south London boozer.

Then Jack goes and dies of cancer, and leaves his pals with his own "last orders" - he wants his ashes to be scattered off the pier at Margate.

Undertaker Vic brings the urn to the pub and they set off with Jack's son Vince (Winstone) at the wheel of a Mercedes he's taken off the forecourt of his showroom for the day.

As the journey unfolds then so do the stories about these five seemingly ordinary working class friends - how they met, who they loved and why they've stuck together.

However, beneath the chirpy chatter swirl darker undercurrents, deceits both cruel and kind which they don't know about one another (or pretend not to know).

Jack ran up £20,000-worth of debt trying to keep his butcher's business afloat...but his beloved wife Amy (Mirren) is none the wiser.

To wipe out the account he borrows £1,000 off Vince from his hospital bed and hands the lot over to "lucky" Ray to put on the horses.

He trusts him implicitly...but has deserted husband Ray got something to hide from his dying pal and what other secrets will spill out as the drunken journey to fulfill Jack's wishes nears its end?

Australian director Fred Schepisi has crafted a complex but thoroughly compelling and coherent tale of how friendships work.

It would be churlish to pick out any one character as this roster of Britain's finest acting talent flesh out their parts so effortlessly.

Based on Graham Swift's Booker Prizewinner, this is a British movie to be proud of. It's rich, warm, funny; an honest film that isn't frightened to be true to itself.