Bloody awesome film.
The pace is a little uneven, perhaps, and perhaps it could have been 10 minutes shorter without really cutting anything, but the amount of work in it is amazing, astonishing, even.
The setup is pretty funny – with Pegg playing an obnoxious ass with more flaws than a cracked pint glass. His mates have all moved on and grown up, but he surely hasn’t. But, they start to go along with him anyway to see the train wreck in action. Oh, and because he’s twisted their arms, he’s not very nice really.
The pub crawl, well it’s quite the challenge isn’t it? 12 Pubs, 12 [or maybe more] pints and that’s without any shots, or funny business. They’ve got a lot to talk through, and the more you drink the more fluid the boundaries of social acceptability become – we are the self-repressed Brits, after all.
The love is there, as it always should be – Simon4Nik4eva, but the roles are a little adjusted from what we saw before – Nik’s straight man lines delivered with damn good skillz [though I swear I saw him smiling at the wrong moment al-la Spaced], yet the Tubby one still has a given talent for comedy which elude 99% of the comedy acting troupe worldwide. There is also some romance of a sort [oh I’ll never look at the disabled toilets the same] and a hundred well-observed lines on the perils of growing up, and the nostalgia of looking back from a very different view point.
Simon/Gary – oh frack he’s painful to watch. Nifty with his fists though. In fact the choreography is great, and the fighting gripping. I really noticed some difference in “flavour” in the fight scenes to Hollywood fare, I can’t put my finger on it maybe a different shot composition somehow? Edgar’s tough I think as it’s evident in Scott Pilgrim too. Oh, and we finally get to see Nick Frost really, really kicking ass – Hooray!
The other characters are all brilliantly acted, with conviction and good timing – these films never suffer from the perils of being un-funny when they think they are funny [lookin’ at you Burn After Reading]. I don’t know about you lot but I really think there was a strong resemblance between Jess Hynes and the main female character – Sam. It was a bit of a surprise, and I really wish she’d been in it…. 🙁
The end sequences had the whole audience snorting and laughing like buffoons, contains some killer lines and will probably NOT be what you’re expecting.
There are, of course, cameos [Michael Smiley 🙂 🙂 ], nods-to the other Cornetto films and, puzzlingly – no red on anyone AFAIK!
Highly recommended, and a bloody big relief to be able to say it. To have waited 9 years for a film, and then be able to say “Awesome” is a rare treat.
Go see it.
GfS
