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Film Review - The Harry Hill Movie
5 years ago
I want to say “Harry Hill needs no introduction”, but he does because some people haven’t heard of this national treasure beyond his use as a meme by RTGame.
Harry Hill is a comedian. While I’m not a fan of his comedy style most of the time, but he is responsible for Harry Hill’s TV Burp, the funniest TV program ever made. It’s hard to explain the appeal of TV Burp due to the jokes being so visual. It’s not really the kind of show you can have on in the background. Also, he’s an amateur artist who said in an interview that he has trouble painting horses, which as a shit tier artist myself, I can relate to.
So it pains me to say that the Harry Hill Movie is very hit and miss, ranging from laugh out loud funny, to the worst kind of filler.
The plot is that Harry’s hamster is sick. Given a week to live, they decide to take him to Blackpool tower. Meanwhile, Harry’s evil twin brother and his two henchmen are trying to kidnap the hamster.
As with TV Burp, it’s hard to show you a single clip to prove that the film is funny, since so many of the jokes require set up, are visual, or are generally subtle. One of the few examples I can give is when the henchmen are talking about the villains they’ve worked for. People like Scaramanga, Lex Luthor, and Tony Blair. Another highlight is the song trying to portray Blackpool as some glamorous dream destination. There’s also some easy to miss details, like when you see Stoofer when one of the characters is browsing FaceBook.
The cast is well done too. It’s a who’s who of British comedians. You have Harry Hill, obviously. Matt Lucas, Johny Vegas, and Julie Walters all doing well in their roles. If there was a scene with a pub, I’m sure Al Murry would’ve been there.
One strange thing is how some scenes seem unusually expensive and out of place. Most obvious is a scene where the hamster turns giant, terrorises a town while shooting nuclear rays from its eyes, before being suppressed by the army and returning to normal. It’s large in scope and budget, isn’t very funny, is out of place, and has no impact on the story. The cynic in me says it’s there either as a studio mandate, or to have something for the trailer. This is made even more confusing because the ending feels shoddy and rushed.
Unfortunately, the film is dragged down by the singing. It’s almost a musical with the amount of songs. The previously mentioned Blackpool song is fantastic, and the song about bed and breakfasts is okay I guess, but all the rest is pure, uncut, 48 carat filler. There’s a band I’ve never heard of called the Magic Numbers that cameo a few times in the film, serving no purpose other than a name drop, and most of the songs have little humour to them and don’t really advance the plot.
It pains me to say it, but it’s difficult for me to recommend The Harry Hill Movie to anyone. What's good is great, but the filler makes it difficult to sit through. A good editor could likely get this film down to about 50 minutes of pure gold, but as it is now, it’s a 90 minute mixed bag.
(If you want to see what TV Burp is like, here's part of a random episode I found on YouTube)
https://youtu.be/_knkaMT85sg
Harry Hill is a comedian. While I’m not a fan of his comedy style most of the time, but he is responsible for Harry Hill’s TV Burp, the funniest TV program ever made. It’s hard to explain the appeal of TV Burp due to the jokes being so visual. It’s not really the kind of show you can have on in the background. Also, he’s an amateur artist who said in an interview that he has trouble painting horses, which as a shit tier artist myself, I can relate to.
So it pains me to say that the Harry Hill Movie is very hit and miss, ranging from laugh out loud funny, to the worst kind of filler.
The plot is that Harry’s hamster is sick. Given a week to live, they decide to take him to Blackpool tower. Meanwhile, Harry’s evil twin brother and his two henchmen are trying to kidnap the hamster.
As with TV Burp, it’s hard to show you a single clip to prove that the film is funny, since so many of the jokes require set up, are visual, or are generally subtle. One of the few examples I can give is when the henchmen are talking about the villains they’ve worked for. People like Scaramanga, Lex Luthor, and Tony Blair. Another highlight is the song trying to portray Blackpool as some glamorous dream destination. There’s also some easy to miss details, like when you see Stoofer when one of the characters is browsing FaceBook.
The cast is well done too. It’s a who’s who of British comedians. You have Harry Hill, obviously. Matt Lucas, Johny Vegas, and Julie Walters all doing well in their roles. If there was a scene with a pub, I’m sure Al Murry would’ve been there.
One strange thing is how some scenes seem unusually expensive and out of place. Most obvious is a scene where the hamster turns giant, terrorises a town while shooting nuclear rays from its eyes, before being suppressed by the army and returning to normal. It’s large in scope and budget, isn’t very funny, is out of place, and has no impact on the story. The cynic in me says it’s there either as a studio mandate, or to have something for the trailer. This is made even more confusing because the ending feels shoddy and rushed.
Unfortunately, the film is dragged down by the singing. It’s almost a musical with the amount of songs. The previously mentioned Blackpool song is fantastic, and the song about bed and breakfasts is okay I guess, but all the rest is pure, uncut, 48 carat filler. There’s a band I’ve never heard of called the Magic Numbers that cameo a few times in the film, serving no purpose other than a name drop, and most of the songs have little humour to them and don’t really advance the plot.
It pains me to say it, but it’s difficult for me to recommend The Harry Hill Movie to anyone. What's good is great, but the filler makes it difficult to sit through. A good editor could likely get this film down to about 50 minutes of pure gold, but as it is now, it’s a 90 minute mixed bag.
(If you want to see what TV Burp is like, here's part of a random episode I found on YouTube)
https://youtu.be/_knkaMT85sg
