Festival Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Festival

Rubbish? No. Terrible? No. Godawful? Not strong enough. I am in an odd position, I'm almost at a loss for the words to encompass just how jaw-slackeningly astoundingly dreadful Festival really is. The film follows, at a conservative estimate, 704 characters (comedians, journalists acotrs etc) through one Edinburgh festival. You'd think this would be fun, a film about the run up to a comedy award, written and directed by the creator of acclaimed Channel 4 comedy The Book Group. That, at least, is the trap I fell in. Festival is allegedly a comedy so here's the big problem: Schindlers List had more laughs. The stand up routines we have to endure as judges watch in order to put together an award shortlist are so shoddy and out of date they'd struggle to pass muster at a local pub's new talent night in 1990. To listen to the drivel these horribly unfunny characters spout and then hear them acclaimed as great comics is laughable (and NOT in the way Annie Griffin wants it to be). The other productions we watch are just as terrible, the absolute nadir being a shockingly pretentious and banal show by three American actors who are shockingly pretentious and banal every time they are on screen and, like everyone else in the film, you'll want to kill after five seconds in their company. Really, I understand that Griffin is saying 'look at what rubbish gets celebrated here' but GOD would it have hurt to have ONE watchable act in the whole sodding thing? It's a shame Festival is so unremittimgly horrid in every way because at least one person in it deserves better. Daniella Nardini is a fine actress (though you'd never spot it from this) she was terrific in This Life and really needs to pick better films. Annie Griffin Directs, if possible, with less flair and ability than she writes. It's an ugly film and feels for all the world like it's been put together by some destined-to-fail film students as a dare. So; avoid Festival, by any and all means possible. It really is THAT bad.

[Highly rated reviewer]

It's festival time again

You can just hear the Edinburgh locals running from this one as the fringe festival gets into full swing. As a performer myself from 6 fringes in the 1990's (enjoyed every glorious moment)I was amazed at the authenticity that the director had conjured up. Then she is a veteren of many fringes herself so she knew what she was doing. Several stories are expertly interwoven: the alcoholic Irish comedian searching for his fringe first; the star fringe first judge who can't be kept in order by his (depressed) personnal assistant; the one woman show of Dorothy Wordsworth; the one man paedophile priest played by - yes you've guessed it; the sexy radio journalist who satisfys more than her listeners; the Canadian acting troupe who comprehensively trash a New Town flat. The only off key note is the Edinburgh lawyer and his family that does not pass the credibility test. Some may sneer at the TV production values but, for a low budget film, it looked pretty good on the big screen so should be a nice little dvd release. Be warned, there is a bit of heterosexual and homosexual activity that will offend some. Hey, that's the festival - enjoy.

No, no, no... stars....

I wasted almost two hours of my life watching this turgid, badly written, badly directed and badly conceived 'film'. It's appalling and it really makes me despair for the state of our British film industry when crap like this gets made and hundreds of other more worthy scripts are left to rot. Whoever funded this abject pile of rubbish should be working at Sainsburys and most definitely not making these decisions. Awful.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Deeper than comedy.

I guess you would think that with such a cast (leading lights from The IT Crowd, Green Wing, Teachers, Peep Show, That Peter Kay Thing etc), Festival would be funny. Think again. It is funny in the way that life is funny, but it's not a Comedy. It's a film about what comedy is, who invents it, who watches it and who cares about it.

The characters include a puppet guy who likes being fisted, a no-brain blonde (who gets shown up in the best end sequence), a deeply sad and hurt wife, a strange little one-woman show, a pretend paedo-priest and a reassurance seeking Oirish. All of the above get in each others way, lend a helping hand and hurt each other a lot.

The film isn't pretentious, but many of the people in it are very much so, especially the Canadian house hoggers - although there is a point to it all. Watch it for laughs and you will be disappointed - watch it while thinking 'I wonder if this would have meant something to Tony Hancock before he killed himself?' and you will see an altogether better film. You have to think while watching Festival, but that may not be why you rented it.

No Fringe benefits

My heart sank at the very first frame of this film when it declared that it was funded by the National Lottery. They also funded the seminal 'Sex Lives of the Potato Men'. But back to Festival. There is a moment in this film when a radio presenter declares of a comedy performer 'You are just not funny.' She could have been talking about the whole of this film. This pitiful exercise is filled with a stream of expletives and a ragbag of ill-conceived characters who all share one thing in common. They are all universally unfunny. Rather like those alternative stand-ups who think it's hilarious and cutting edge to overuse 'f**k' and 'c**t' in every sentence. There is only one performance that is worthy of praise and that is Raquel Cassidy who plays the long suffering PA to a supposedly funny comedian. Yet another wretched film to drag the British film industry into the gutter.

Festival

I decided to rent this after watching the National Comedy Awards thinking it would be worth a watch. How wrong I was to do so. What an utter pile of W**k.

Edinburgh Rock !

I didn't find this as bad as some other reviewers .. follow the pastiche - and yes, there is a plot & script - and you can enjoy .. Maybe slightly overlong, and one or two wasteful characters, but this is an ok film .. Lyndsey Marshal as the one woman show of Dorothy Wordsworth is kinda cute as well.

Poor

Disappointed.expected so much more from this. just didnt feel that the film had any plot. Waste of an evening.

a wasted opportunity

Potentially a great idea, but disappointingly executed, with no charm or wit, let alone comedy. The characters are largely unconvincing and unpleasant, and Daniella Nardini, a fine actress, cringes her way through an appalling role with horrendously unsexy sex scenes and costume and make-up that ensures she looks as rough as possible. In fact, the female characters are repeatedly humiliated in what seems surprisingly viscious direction coming from a female director. I gave it two stars just because I managed to sit through to the end. This says more about my jaw dropping disbelief that this travesty ever got publicly funded than it does about the sustainability of a plot. I'm sure Ms Nardini has learnt a harsh lesson here, this film is so beneath her, I can only imagine that the script she signed up to looked nothing like the one finally put on screen.

Funny but, sadly, predominantly sad

I thought that this film was brilliant though not at all how I expected. It is not so much a comedy as a bewildering and slightly surreal tragedy, although not particularly sad it does remind you of the futility of your own existence. I'd highly recommend it.