www.leagueofgentlemenmovie.com
Dir: Steve Bendelack
Cast: Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, David Warner
Meet local people
they will leave Royston Vasey
don't eat her fish cakes
After three successful television series and a live tour (with another to follow later this year), The League of Gentlemen now bring their goofball creations to the big screen. Royston Vasey is under threat; meteors are falling from the sky and the locals are terrified. The impending doom has been foretold on the walls of the crypt and a decision is made to send three of the townsfolk through the secret door – and into our world. Now aware that they are merely fictional characters it is up to the team of butcher Hilary Briss (Gatiss), German teacher Herr Lipp (Pemberton) and the bungling Geoff Tipps (Shearsmith) to track down the real-life League and to persuade them to keep Royston Vasey going. It’s a risky strategy taking these well-loved characters from their familiar setting and placing them within the real world, but it actually works rather well and opens up the film to a much wider audience. The notion of these odd people actually meeting Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith is amusing, and there’s a great build up as the three principal characters prepare to break into their office to steal the team’s laptop. Unfortunately just as you’re getting into the film you’re thrown into the middle of a period drama – which Pemberton is currently writing – as Geoff unwittingly finds himself involved in the schemes of the wily Dr Pea (Warner). Thankfully the film soon gets back on track and there’s much fun to be add as Dr Pea then escapes his environs and the League members come under threat themselves. With most of the characters already well established a lot of the success of the film depends on the writing, and it’s a relief to discover that the gags here are of a suitably high standard and well above the level of many other British comedies which made the same journey from television to film (Kevin And Perry Go Large and Ali G In Da House spring to mind here). There’s some great one-liners (“I made a little brown fish”) and the best of these tend to fall to Herr Lipp with his ever present double-entendres. Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith tackle their multitude of roles with gusto and actually succeed in making you care about the rather unsavoury inhabitants of Royston Vasey. Only camera-shy writer Jeremy Dyson fails to appear as himself, with Michael Sheen taking his role in the hilarious opening sequence in which he’s visited at home by Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou. As always there’s a smattering of familiar faces with the likes of Bernard Hill and Victoria Wood taking supporting roles, and blink-or-you’ll-miss-it cameos from Peter Kay and Simon Pegg. Director Bendelack (who also directed the television series) does a competent job and you have to admire the team’s dedication to stop-motion animation and some old-school horror staples – the exploding head shot is always a classic! Overall it’s a fresh approach to these well-liked characters and produces a movie that should appeal to more than just ‘local people’.
soulmining rating: ****
No comments:
Post a Comment