It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

The great thing about renting DVDs is that it lets you take a chance on films you wouldn’t think of buying. And occasionally that pays off and you discover a really good film you might never have seen.

And sometimes it’s a complete waste of time, much like with It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time, which I can honestly say is one of, if not the worst film I’ve ever seen (actually, the worst film I’ve ever seen is We’ve Got The Toaster, another rental gamble, but I digress). It’s also one of the worst DVDs I’ve ever watched.

Let’s start with that. Despite the copyright date printed on the disc being 2009, this DVD feels like a VHS tape from the early 80s it’s so bad. There aren’t any special features or extras. There are no subtitles. There are no chapter markings. There isn’t even a menu. Should you somehow manage to make it to the end of the film, it simply loops back around to the beginning. That alone is a pretty good indicator of how cheap this product is. Even beyond technical ineptitude, the film is poorly presented. It’s been cropped to fit the disc’s aspect ratio, losing picture information from each side of the screen (especially noticeable during the awful animated opening titles, where lots of the names are chopped off). There’s been no attempt to clean up the movie from whatever cheaply struck film copy the publisher picked up, so not only does it look old and dirty but there are numerous scratches, picture jumps and even moments of tram-markings marring the picture.

But it’s hard to get angry about all that given that the film itself is a complete waste of time. Don’t be fooled by the cover image at the top of the page – this is not a John Candy film. Sure, Candy’s in it, but it’s a minor role that doesn’t turn up until the last third of the film. To sell this as a John Candy film is akin to selling Anchorman as a Seth Rogen film in it’s inaccuracy. Retrofame at it’s worst.

The actual star of the film is Anthony Newley, playing the fairly unlikeable Sweeney. All the characters are unlikeable really, which is fine because the plot’s insipid and uninteresting and will fail to hold anyone’s attention for more than fifteen minutes. Perhaps the worst element is the sound. The dialogue’s all poorly recorded while the film is scored like a particularly obnoxious kid’s show. All in all, it ends up feeling like a decidedly awful ITV sitcom from the 70s.

So please, don’t rent this film. Even ironically or to see if it’s as bad as I’m saying it. Just take my word for it and don’t bother.

to be honest I didnt even watch this all the way through I was so bored after 30 minutes of pointless and plotless practical jokes I couldnt take it anymore and sent it back.