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andrewmwest
Reviews
Porridge (2017)
Very Good
I was more than pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I absolutely love the original and know it inside out - I often quote from the original Porridge with friends and family (e.g. " I read a book one, Green it was"; "When I think of me going home to my wife...................Sometimes I wish I was in here with you lot"; the list goes on and on. So having read poor reviews from the luvies at the Guardian and Telegraph along the lines of it was a very poor replica, my expectations were set low. Perhaps that explains why I enjoyed it: low expectations. Bishop is excellent ; OK he is doing a bit of an impression of Fletch, but it is an excellent and convincing one and I got drawn into his character in a similar way I did with Barker's Fletch. The ensemble cast is very strong: some brilliant performances. The scene with the lad on the phone to his girlfriend with Fletch telling him what to say had me in stitches. You can never get near the original. That was absolute perfection. Consign that to history. But I felt privileged to be able to watch such a strong cast perform a script from the original writers. The indelible DNA of those two writers is evident in the dialogue and the construct of the jokes and situations, which is a bit like getting into a warm bath. Lovely to see all of this working and being brought back to life in this sitcom. More please. I will be watching it. As for the luvies, I will give them 2 fingers from Fletch through the keyhole.
The Heartbreak Kid (2007)
heartbreak kid -
I haven't quite worked out why I enjoyed this movie so so much. I stumbled upon it on sky TV late on a Sunday night just as i was about to go to bed, when my expectations were low. I could immediately see that this was typical stiller being stiller - bright, questioning and eager to please but in a kind of lost " I haven't quite arrived where I should be" kind of way. You know what you get with Stiller and he drew me in in the same way a TV premiership game would if I stumbled on it. But the sports shop pants scene cemented my relationship with this film and despite it being gone midnight on a Sunday night i knew from that moment i was in for the whole haul.
Maybe it reminded me of situations I have been in in the past and strangely made me feel young again ( I am 46). But most of all , it made me laugh out loud more than I can remember for a long time. The bed scenes were the comedy climax for me - but again, sadly for me, they struck a huge chord with me.
Of course it made light of marriage but crap happens and despite the fact that nobody breaks it off so soon (during the honeymoon) and there had to be poetic licence here for the film to work, it was strangely convincing - the transformation of this girl through the eyes of Stiller's character was perfectly done - even though all of the instances were individually harmless assuming you are happy with a doting, fun loving and attractive but slightly intellectually and emotionally immature wife. We can all be fickle and we all make allowances and compromises in life. Miranda represented the perfect match for Stiller. Was Stiller going to compromise or attempt to compromise after he realised his mistake? Miranda gave the movie some emotional backbone but I could not help thinking what lay beneath that positive earthy exterior - did you see the scary look on her face when she was mad in the bedroom scene.
The one scene that nearly did not work was the jelly fish scene - but even that redeemed itself and brought a laugh with her line - we are on our honeymoon.
The supporting cast were terrific. Stiller senior got some terrific lines and delivered as only he can. The sports shop pants scene was perfect as was the penultimate scene driving away from Miranda's house.
I thought the final scene worked well and provided an unexpected comedy climax.