Film Reviews

Bunny And The Bull

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring:
• Details: UK / 101mins (16).

The Mighty Boosh make their first feature, which will fail to make non-fans (like myself) a regular viewer of the TV series. The script lacks fizz and is totally forgettable, but the direction should launch series director Paul King's career.
When the girl he loves rejects him, Stephen (Hogg) retreats into an OCD hell and shuts himself off from the world. He lives a very ordered life: he rarely goes outside and has taken to hoarding everything from newspapers to bits of string. Loudmouth best friend Bunny (Farnaby) convinces him that what he needs is a change of scenery and the two embark on a road trip that takes them around various European museums (like the shoe museum and the eye glass museum). They wind up in Poland where they meet the sexy Eloisa (Penelope Cruz look-alike Echegui); Eloisa is looking for a lift to Spain for the annual fiesta and the boys are only too happy to oblige. Along the way, Stephen falls for Eloisa but will Bunny mess things up as usual?
Nothing original going on here, then - it's a basic buddy-buddy-girl road movie. The story is episodic, which, given its sub genre, is expected, but there's nothing linking the story except the barely-there love story. The scenarios the trio find themselves in clash rather than gel and the gags are of a very hit-and-miss nature. Hogg and Farnaby enjoy themselves and show some decent improvised chemistry, working hard to turn what's given to them into laughs. If the story is by the numbers, the direction is anything but.
While shooting Killer's Kiss, director Stanley Kubrick was asked why he was being extra nice to the cast and crew. His reply was simple, honest and true: "I'm the only one who is going to get anything out of this film." The same can be said about Paul King and Bunny and the Bull. It's an old adage that having no money encourages the filmmaker to be inventive and imaginative and King does both here. The director sometimes shoots his leads superimposed on animated backgrounds. Sure, it looks cheap as chips but it adds to the fun. When he's not doing that he directs very much from the school of Terry Gilliam: there's the room that's made of books, the slow zoom in on a snow globe that then turns into live action, the bull that's borne of metal. King is a talent we'll be hearing from again. Let's hope he can pen a better script next time.

Review by Gavin Burke