Funny Bones Details

This wry and caustic examination of the nature of comedy from Hear My Song writer/director Peter Chelsom gave British stand-up comedian Lee Evans the chance to shine in his movie debut, alongside up-and-coming American character actor Oliver Platt. Platt plays Tommy Fawkes, the son of legendary comedian George Fawkes (played by legendary comedian Jerry Lewis), who arrives in Blackpool, his father's old stamping ground, from Las Vegas, ostensibly to watch new talent. However, he's really come to buy comedy material that he intends to pass off as his own back home in America. After a lifetime of living in his father's shadow and having failed in his own stand-up career, the search for new material has become an obsession. In Blackpool, not only does he find out that his own father stole a lot of his original act from Thomas and Bruno Parker (played by George Carl and Freddie “Parrot Face” Davies, respectively), he also discovers he has a long-lost brother in Bruno's son Jack (Evans). And Jack has “funny bones” — he's effortlessly funny — whereas Tommy isn't. How everything is resolved in everyone's best interests makes for eccentric viewing, with a number of amusing highlights and quirky set pieces that give Funny Bones a flavour all its own. The eclectic cast also includes Leslie Caron, Oliver Reed and Richard Griffiths, and the use of Blackpool locations is stunning, with Chelsom investing his ambitious undertaking with numerous magical dream-like moments. Evans, meanwhile, brilliantly indulges in the supercharged Norman Wisdom schtick for which he has become justifiably famous. While it may be too quirky for some, this highly original outing is worth sticking with for the moments where it all comes together as a glorious whole.

The adventurousness of the film and the refusal by its director to play safe are to be applauded, as is his investigation of the nature of comedy; unfortunately there is a problem: it simply isn't ever funny, not even when it is intended to be.