“Bottoms up!”
“Cocks in!”
The critics really didn’t like this
movie. My expectations were therefore not all that high at the start. Added to
this, I’m sort of on the fence in that I sort of like James Corden – I think he’s quite funny and a good actor, hence his
regular straight roles in TV and theatre- but I’m no fan of Matthew Horne. But, you know what? I’m
not saying that this is the greatest film ever made, but it isn’t the worst
either. Perhaps it’s partly because I came to this film having had to abandon
another film half way through because of rubbishness (no names mentioned yet),
but there’s nowt wrong with this.
Quite sensibly, the film
structures itself around some silliness in the style of late Hammer Horror vampire films, complete
with clichéd plot and the regulation lesbian vampires. We all know what to
expect from this sort of thing, so the film can proceed to milk humour out of
putting characters in this situation and respond knowingly to the clichés in a
nicely metatextual way. Hence, Fletch doesn’t really give a monkeys about the
fact that the lesbian vampires are going to completely destroy everything; he’d
rather have some fun with some rather attractive ladies and make the sort of
comments that the viewers are making to each other about the delightful
sweariness of Paul McGann’s Scouse
vicar and the clichés that abound.
Fletch is the character who makes
the film work; I found Jimmy a little wooden and the squadron of girls are just
there to look sexy. They’re good to look at though, and it’s good to hear “I
like you so much better when you’re naked” by Ida Maria. I loved that song when it came out but I’d forgotten
about it!
The best thing about the film is
the climax, with the condom “holy water” balloons and other such silliness. My
favourite moment in the whole film is when Fletch points out to the Vicar that
everybody knows how to kill vampires because of pop culture and that. This may
not be the best film ever made, but it’s unfairly maligned.
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