Film Reviews

Situations Vacant

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• Details: IRL/97mins (15A)

Playing like a student production, with a budget to match, the makers of Situations Vacant really haven't thought about who would be paying to see this. On the surface they have relatable characters, in all-too-relatable situations, but not one of them is any way developed to the point of realism - while the proposed humour is about as funny as a Daz ad. That may seem harsh, but I really wanted to like this self-proclaimed comedy; the filmmakers just made it exceedingly difficult to do so. This is just not marketable, and even with a paltry budget I'd expect it to lose money as word of mouth will not be carrying it to the bank.
Diarmuid Noyes plays Dave, a bit of a dreamer who's been having awful hassle trying to get a job - probably on account of him being Forrest Gump in a Penny's suit. With his mother on his case and a new woman on the horizon, he redoubles his efforts by having a couple of pints before he goes in to any interview. This really doesn't help him find a job, but it does set up some "comedy interviews." Dave's mates are also in a similar predicament, except the one that has a job and a missus (Sam Corry), hates it and his missus, while the other one (Shaun Dunne) is pretty much in the exact same predicament as Dave.
It's hard not to feel sorry for the cast, as they all appear to be walking around in a bit of daze at points. The script was never there in the first place, but Mulcahy's absent direction leaves them completely stranded, resulting in very little cohesion with any of the performances. Out of the three lads, Corry is the one who fares best; but his character is essentially a cliché with limbs, and the God awful conclusion he's subjected to only reinforces that.
There has been precious few homemade success stories is recent times, but across the globe mico-budgeted independent productions seem capable of triumphing over obvious adversity and finding an audience. Situations Vacant tries to be an accessible, broad comedy, but just ends up alienating its audience because it isn't funny. In Bruges and Once both had very specific themes, and directors who realised this and delivered two very different films that both worked because they didn't try and be anything they weren't.
Comparing this far slighter production to those efforts may seem unfair, but they're now the bar, and Situations Vacant barely registers on it.

Review by Mike Sheridan