I’m probably quite bias really because, i’ve been a fan of the works of Harry Hill from pretty much his first outings on TV in ‘Fruit Fancies’ and ‘The Harry Hill Show’, and as a fan of surreal and weird comedy more generally; Im an easy sell to his brand of weird and wonderful alternative comedy.
By the early 2010’s Harry Hills popularity was pretty much at its peak, ‘TV Burp’ had been leading Saturday afternoons and syndication slots ratings wise for years, only backed up by him also dominating ratings slots with his hosting duties on ‘You’ve been framed!’ (Essentially the UK’s version of ‘Americas funniest Home Videos) he’d managed to get himself into that sweet spot of being affectionately adored by not only grown ups who grew up watching him do increasingly daft things on stage and TV, but by a new generation of kids who were bored in rainy England and suddenly had this unpredictable firework of a man explode onto their screens.
A ‘Harry Hill’ movie had been on and off in the works for the better part of a decade by the 2010’s, but in 2013; they’d finally pull the trigger and the results are ultimately a mixture of good to iffy that I feel gets a LOT of slander sent its way, simply because it didnt meet the audiences expectations.
SO. ‘The Harry Hill Movie’ is set in a surreal and colourful version of the UK in which Harry lives with his Nan in a bungalow and gets up to all kinds of crazy things from Rascle scooter races to Chicken based warfare. However, Harry’s getting older and wants his Nan to move out of the Bungalow so that he can bring girls around…Thats when his Nan reveals that Harry in fact has a long lost twin who was abandoned by her and raised by Alsations. A revelation that doesnt really land with much of a splash to Harry, as she apparently always tells him this story whenever ‘Eggs’ are mentioned, and for the fact that there are dozens of photos of this ‘long lost twin’ all over the house.
This subplot is cut short however as the main plotline reveals itself. Harry has a puppet Hamster named ‘Abu’ (voiced by Johnny Vegas) and he’s sick. They take him to the vet, where they reveal that Abu only has 1 week left to live. Distraught. Harry and his Nan take Abu home and ask him, if he could have one thing before he dies, what would it be? To which Abu says ‘A date with Rhianna’ but Harry misinterprets as ‘A trip to the top of the Blackpool Tower’.
Thus; a great British roadtrip begins to get Abu to Blackpool before his untimely demise and all the crazy and wild hijynx that come with it. However! they wont be travelling alone! as its revealed that the Vets Harry went to previously was in fact a secret hideout for 2 Evil henchmen…WHO ARE WORKING FOR HARRYS EVIL TWIN!
Thus! Comedy shenanigans ensue, as the dim witted henchmen try to capture Abu to take back to their boss. Abu thwarts there attempts, and Harry and his Nan obliviously take in the sights and sounds of Britain.
I’ll be honest; I never really fully understood the hate that this movie recieved, even on my first time watching it, it felt very much in line with Harrys ‘schtick’ from the stage and in line with his more ‘stand up’ oriented TV shows like ‘The Harry Hill Show’.
A bit of an issue that Harry experiences as a comedian is that, because he’s a colourful and whimsical comedian, he predominantly appeals to kids, BUT. because he’s also got a nice dark comedy streak running as an undercurrent and is prone to rug pulls and ‘blunt’ comedy, adults like him too. This, at its heart is aiming to be a family comedy, with emphasis on it being fun for the kids, but enough humour for the grownups to have a fine time too. But I feel a lot of adult viewers go into this expecting his more snarky ‘TV Burp’ persona and for it to be more in line with his more mature comedy stuff, and come away incredibly dissapointed when its just a silly 87 minute romp that runs the gauntlet of Slapstick, gross out, innuendo, visual gags, low brow and high brow humour.
Im not going to sit here and say that this films a masterpiece or a true original. Fundamentally it feels almost identical tonally to ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’, just without the darker elements or the Burton-esq direction.
But what I can say is that (in my opinion) this is a reletively sturdy kids comedy film that opens strong, maintains a good pace and tone through most of the second act, and maybe slows down just a little *too* much in the third act for its own good.
Otherwise? it keeps a good pace for most of the runtime, i’d say the gags land more than they flop. the dialogues got a nice waft of Harry all the way through it. The final act is a little turbulent, being honest, this is a surreal comedy movie. I wasnt expecting a powerful and emotional resolution. But the end does feel more like a wimper than a bang, and the comedy kind of starts to get sidelined in favour of the plot as the 2nd act winds down…But the plot isnt all that remarkable, which means there are points in the 3rd act where it seems to get a bit dry.
Humour obviously is subjective, but i’d say I laughed my way through the majority of this, nothing too ‘gut buster’ great. But enough to keep me watching comfortably till the end without clock watching. The characters are all fun, non serious and whimsical. And while its not the most ‘original’ film in the world, I could still appreciate it for what it was and I think it works fine enough as a complete work.
The direction is probably my favourite element of this, a tapestry of animation, stop motion and hyper colourful visuals, its a swirling picture of ideas and concepts that, for the most part feels like a non stop rollercoaster of thought. However; that does come at a bit of a drawback because they’re throwing so much at the screen at one time, that I feel some ideas dont really get the time to develop to their maximum pay out. there are LOTS of incidents where something funny will be shown, and then promptly dropped or forgotted, when; had they given it just a bit more time, or developed it further. it could have led to a bigger laugh.
The cine too is wonderful, a flurry of an edit supports colourful and funky visuals that show a real creative flare. Do I think this is the prettiest film in the world? absolutely not. But its distinct and has character, and in a sea of movies that choose ‘polish’ over ‘presentation’…I think that counts for something.
Performance wise, I had a real good time with this one. Harry and Julie Walters play their parts exquisitly and are essentially worth the price of admission alone, cameos from Julian Barrat and Jim Broadbent were surreal, but very welcome as they totally throw themselves into the characters.
I do have to say though, while there are some fun performances here, some of the supporting cast dont quite feel right to me. Matt Lucas misses the mark by a hairs breadth as Harrys evil twin, coming so close to getting the performance right for me. But just…Not quite scratching the itch. I feel like he cant quite balance the ‘evil but whimsical’ line…and the end result is a just kind of…weird neutral zone that was fine…but not great.
Simon Day, Sheredin Smith and Guillaume Delaunay as ‘Michelle’ and the evil henchmen again just…dont quite feel right here, they feel a bit awkward in places, almost like they dont quite commit fully to the surreal element of the performance. Its somewhat understandable, as comedy often teaches to have a ‘straight man’ and a ‘fall guy’. But Harrys specific style of humour means that playing that kind of, slightly self aware and awkward persona, doesnt quite land…it works temporarily if its done by an extra, or as a one off bit. But giving a support character that personality type for the full runtime means the film regularly feels like its reviewing its own confidence on the situation…which I wasnt a big fan of.
The film is also partly a muscial (because why not?) and the songs range from actual earworms that’ll stay with you well past the credits (Julie Walters rapping has to be seen to be believed) through to actually just kind of pedestrian parodies that take longer than i’d like to be over with. On the whole? with the inclusion of some ‘jukebox’ numbers…its fine. but almost certainly could have been better.
On the whole? I feel like ‘The Harry Hill Movie’ hit the same issues that ‘The Three Stooges’ revival movie encountered…Which is that you have this household name thats loved by multiple generations, but has evolved and grown in so many different directions that trying to accomodate all tastes and flavours becomes and almost impossible task, this coupled with the fact it feels SO close to ‘Pee Wees Big Adventure’ in execution, leaves it feeling a little bit *too* specific for mainstream appeal…
That being said, I enjoyed it. I think its a fine enough way to get introduced to Harrys style as a performer and comic. It keeps a good pace, is genuinely funny in places and almost certainly could have been a lot LOT worse. Id even go as far as to say this is somewhat underrated, and i’d say if you havent seen it before, and you like weird alternative british comedy like ‘The Mighty boosh’ or ‘Garth Marenghis Darkplace’…Or if your just an Adult swim fan…you’ll probably get a bit of a kick out of this.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-harry-hill-movie/1/
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