***MINOR PLOT SPOILERS***
Above average satire on absurd TV game shows and the destruction they leave in their wake.
Explosives expert and 'Jack the lad', Ian Deegan (Ian McShane) and a beaten down school teacher, Charlie Collins (Lenny Henry) team up to play a snooker-themed game show on TV. It's an obvious rip-off of the once popular Sunday afternoon darts game show in the UK, called Bullseye.
Chris Barrie is a hoot as the insanely obnoxious and cartoonish 'Leslie Crowther'ish game show host, as is the girl who plays the idiotic sidekick, page three girl with the long, long legs! (Couldn't find her name, sorry. The list of credits on IMDb is missing a lot of names for this film.)
Ian plays snooker and Charlie answers the general knowledge questions and they manage to win an expensive car and a garage full of tacky 'white goods'. It's all horrible MFI and Radio Shack surplus junk but the real fun begins when the two chums and their families can't agree on how to split the spoils.
It's a very well played drama which shouldn't be taken to seriously. It does however, leave you with lots to think about as the various relationships breakdown in suburban England as the fleeting and hypnotic draw of showbiz crashes past. The focus of the show is on greed rather than fame and it seems a bit dated because of that. Lots of minor characters also manage to get their presence felt.
One of the funniest scenes is played out in the TV studio 'Green Room'!
There's a nice ending which neatly ties things up. Pretty good TV movie with everyone doing their bit.
Above average satire on absurd TV game shows and the destruction they leave in their wake.
Explosives expert and 'Jack the lad', Ian Deegan (Ian McShane) and a beaten down school teacher, Charlie Collins (Lenny Henry) team up to play a snooker-themed game show on TV. It's an obvious rip-off of the once popular Sunday afternoon darts game show in the UK, called Bullseye.
Chris Barrie is a hoot as the insanely obnoxious and cartoonish 'Leslie Crowther'ish game show host, as is the girl who plays the idiotic sidekick, page three girl with the long, long legs! (Couldn't find her name, sorry. The list of credits on IMDb is missing a lot of names for this film.)
Ian plays snooker and Charlie answers the general knowledge questions and they manage to win an expensive car and a garage full of tacky 'white goods'. It's all horrible MFI and Radio Shack surplus junk but the real fun begins when the two chums and their families can't agree on how to split the spoils.
It's a very well played drama which shouldn't be taken to seriously. It does however, leave you with lots to think about as the various relationships breakdown in suburban England as the fleeting and hypnotic draw of showbiz crashes past. The focus of the show is on greed rather than fame and it seems a bit dated because of that. Lots of minor characters also manage to get their presence felt.
One of the funniest scenes is played out in the TV studio 'Green Room'!
There's a nice ending which neatly ties things up. Pretty good TV movie with everyone doing their bit.
