Funny Man : Review

The problem with facts is they're generally boring. They may be great and indeed a necessity if say, producing a documentary, but when detailing otherwise mundane daily activities, where's the harm in adding a little salt and pepper?

Such it was with the previous story.

Funny Man was indeed in. Who else on an almost barren 253 square miles of former oil-rich land was going to be inclined to hire it? So I got it out, watched it and took it back. Life went on. While it's no great milestone in budget movie making I did enjoy it and the memory of the experience did linger on for many years. Recently I had the opportunity to watch it again, this time of course on DVD.

So how did it stand up? Not badly, not badly at all. Perhaps this is aided by my love of the 'B' movie genre, especially those Hammer Horror style anthology movies that so often starred Peter Cushing. Rather than having what would commonly be referred to as 'plot', Funny Man is a series of tableaus where the titular character (a jester clothed Goblin) disposes of intruders upon his territory, employing a series of increasingly outlandish means. There's just a little something lacking though that's hard to place, I can see greatness lurking in there, it just needed a prod in the right direction to become apparent.

The biggest surprise was in the actual DVD itself. Throughout my collection of several hundred films, from the most banal of budget releases to extravagant box sets, Funny Man has, with no doubt, the finest set of extras I've seen. All were completely watchable and had something to offer in their own right. Of special note was a documentary on the diminutive star Tim James. Who? Yeah - me too. This had the potential to be as interesting as a documentary concerning your postmans sock drawer, yet is truly fascinating with some fantastic footage from the time of the films release and the promotional drive at Cannes.

So I suppose hiring that DVD was the final part of the odyssey: My Quest To See This Film. It's not been a bad ride but it'd been nice to have someone who'd have enjoyed the journey with me.