Film, Comedy, Paul Gallagher

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

By-the-numbers old age comedy drama

Early in this by-the-numbers comedy drama, a young salesperson eagerly enthuses to retiring couple Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) that 'the grey pound is very strong at the moment'. We’re quite clearly supposed to see this…

Untouchable

French box office hit about an unlikely relationship between a man and his carer

A colossal hit in its native France, this story, inspired by real events, looks on paper to be the kind of tactless three-hanky issue movie that Hollywood never misses an opportunity to churn out. Philippe (Francois Cluzet) is a filthy-rich…

I’m So Excited

Pedro Almodóvar returns to the brassy style of his earlier films

The new comedy from beloved Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar begins with a message assuring us that the film ‘is fiction and fantasy, and has no connection to reality’; a provocation to assume the opposite is true if ever there was one. But while there…

The Knot

Distasteful wedding comedy written by and starring Noel Clarke with Matthew McNulty

Noel Clarke emerged during the last decade as a British actor and filmmaker with distinct promise, but in recent years his prolific output has fallen far short of that potential. This wedding comedy, starring and co-written by Clarke, is surely his…

Submarine

British coming of age tale, directed by Richard Ayoade

(15) 98min Here is a rare thing: a British comedy debut that’s surprising, witty, hugely accomplished and fully capable of finding an audience worldwide. Richard Ayoade, previously best known for his TV roles in The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh…

The Descendants

Star performances from George Clooney and Shailene Woodley in Alexander Payne's latest comedy drama

(15) 115m In Alexander Payne’s first film since his 2004 critical darling Sideways, George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaii-based businessman and heir to a hugely valuable piece of Hawaiian land. On the eve of him signing a deal to sell the land and…

Profile - Sebastian Koch

German star of coming-of-age Brit comedy Albatross

Name Sebastian Koch Born Karlsruhe, Germany, May 31 1962 Background Koch has worked solidly in European films and TV for over 25 years, but it was his terrific performance in The Lives of Others (2006) that made him recognisable to cinema…

Albatross

Well-balanced coming-of-age comedy starring Downtown Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay

This British coming-of-age comedy drama from debut director Niall MacCormick retreads familiar ground with its story but, thanks to a very funny script and a combustible lead performance from newcomer Jessica Brown Findlay, it’s never dull. Findlay…

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

TEEN COMEDY (cert tbc) tbcmin After successfully tackling teenage tomboys in Bend it Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha takes a step into younger territory with this adaptation of two of Louise Rennison’s bestselling books for girls. Looking at life…

Vinyl

Clunky Welsh comedy starring Keith Allen and Phil Daniels as ageing punk rockers

This clunky punk rock comedy from Welsh filmmaker Sara Sugarman has its heart in the right place, but despite a decent ‘inspired by real events’ premise and some solid performances, it’s crippled by a half-baked script and a reliance upon…

Up There

Zam Salim's Scottish BAFTA-winning dark comedy is a simple, solid idea that’s stretched too thin

This dark comedy from debut British filmmaker Zam Salim has a promising concept but nowhere interesting to go with it. The story takes place in an imagined afterlife, another plane of existence in our own world where dead souls must pass the time, able…

The Women on the 6th Floor

Light and frothy upstairs/downstairs French comedy

Several stalwarts of European cinema retread familiar territory in this light-as-a-feather upstairs/downstairs comedy set in 1960s Paris. The story exists in that broad and cartoonish realm that seems to be the exclusive domain of middle class French…

Friends with Kids

Hit-and-miss comedy starring Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt

A hit-and-miss comedy with a silly, but interesting, idea behind it: Jason (Adam Baker) and Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt, also the film’s writer and director) are best friends who decide, based on their married friends’ post-baby relationships, that having…

Crispian Mills on A Fantastic Fear of Everything - interview

The ex-Kula Shaker frontman has directed a black comedy starring Simon Pegg

Fearless The frontman of Kula Shaker directing a film? Given Crispian Mills’ family heritage it’s not such a surprise after all, discovers Paul Gallagher. Received wisdom might suggest that rock stars who try their hands at filmmaking are essentially…

Amara Karan, star of All in Good Time - profile

The actress is also set to star alongside Simon Pegg in A Fantastic Fear of Everything

Born 29 March, 1984, London Background Oxford-educated Karan spent two years working as an investment banker before plucking up the courage to pursue her interest in acting. Her audition tape was enough to impress revered director Wes Anderson, who…

All in Good Time

Sweet-natured culture clash comedy starring Amara Karan and Meera Syal

(12A) 93min Originally a 1965 play and subsequently a film by Irish writer Bill Naughton, this sweet-natured comedy became a theatre hit again in 2007 when East is East writer Ayub Khan-Din adapted it into a present-day British-Asian setting. The…

Young Adult

A fiercely dark comedy from Juno writer-director team Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman

(15) 94min This reteaming of Juno director (Jason Reitman) and writer (Diablo Cody) is a fiercely dark character comedy that once again demonstrates the pair’s refusal to be limited by genre conventions, no matter how sacred. The set-up is…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Bridesmaids

Kristen Wiig writes and stars in sharp Apatow comedy

(15) 125min Kristen Wiig (Adventureland, Whip It!) comes close to grasping the comedy crown from her Saturday Night Live colleague Tina Fey with this hilarious reinvigoration of the chick flick. As co-writer and star, Wiig disposes of traditional…

Attack the Block

Plays for scares more than laughs, and succeeds admirably

(15) 87min Coming from the same production team as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs the World, this confident debut from Joe Cornish (one half of duo Adam and Joe) is much less a comedy than might have been expected. Rather it’s a…

Your Highness starring Danny McBride is a load of fantasy rubbish

James Franco, Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman fail to improve it

(15) 102min Before Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy heralded a resurgence of the ‘fantasy quest’ movie, this much-derided genre enjoyed a kind of golden age in the late 1980s, when Labyrinth, The Princess Bride and Willow captured the…

Profile: Richard Ayoade

Boosh, IT Crowd and Darkplace star directs Joe Dunthorne adap Submarine

Name Richard Ayoade Born 12 June 1977, Whipp’s Cross, London Background Best known for playing Moss in Graham Linehan ’s hit TV comedy The IT Crowd, Ayoade first came to the notice of cult comedy fans as writer, director and co-star of spoof…

West is West an uninspired and unrewarding sequel to East is East

Andy DeEmmony's plodding, bland drama stars Om Puri and Aqib Khan

(15) 103min East is East was one of the British box office successes of the late 90s, and found an even bigger audience on video and DVD, but it’s hard to believe that there is much, if any, anticipation for this belated sequel. That is probably for…

Interview - Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis’s pirate radio romp The Boat That Rocked could be seen as a step into new territory for the Love Actually director, as it is noticeably free of his two main preoccupations up to this point: romantic love and Hugh Grant. But according to…

The Boat That Rocked

COMEDY/DRAMA Richard Curtis’ return to the big screen after six years back working in television is not as rockin’ as it is rolling, loose, baggy and freewheeling. It feels like a very long musical montage with little structure or direction. Some…