After my disappointment with my other eagerly anticipated film of the summer (‘A Field in England’) and a lacklustre trailer for this film, I was beginning to worry that the third part of the “Cornetto trilogy” would be a let down.
However, my fears were unfounded as the team of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have delivered a very funny movie. Whilst it does not reach the heights of ‘Shaun of the Dead’, it can be ranked alongside ‘Hot Fuzz’. This time around, Pegg plays a man in his 40s who is obsessed about his glory days as a cool teenager and in particular about a crawl of the 12 pubs in his home town he attempted with 4 friends 20 years before, when they managed to complete the first 9 only. All of his former friends have, unlike Pegg’s character, moved on with their lives but he is able to persuade them to reunite and try to recreate and this time complete the crawl. However, when they start they soon begin to realise that the people in the town are not what they seem to be…
There are obvious comparisons to ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ and ‘Quatermass 2’ but one film I wasn’t expecting to compare it to was ‘Lincoln’! However, it suffers the same flaw in that it is at its weakest in the overlong prologue, and slightly stilted first few minutes and unnecessary epilogue. It starts to pick up as soon as Pegg and Frost are together on screen, and the chemistry of the pair playing against type this time around is the highlight of the film. It also rattles along at a good pace, provides plenty of laughs and some impressive fight scenes. Of the other 3 members of the gang, Eddie Marsan fares best. His initial stiff persona crumbles as he begins to sink a few pints and he comes across as a warm but vulnerable man when he gives an emotional speech about being bullied at school. Martin Freeman is perfectly cast and cruises through the film, but the usually great Paddy Considine struggles to make his straightforward character interesting, and shows that he is much more suited to drama than outright comedy. Rosamund Pike provides some feisty support as Freeman’s sister.
Overall, this is an easy film to like whether or not you have seen the previous collaborations between the stars and the director. For those who are fans of the first 2 films, there are plenty of in jokes, familiar faces and running gags that make it an even more enjoyable experience, with quick cuts of cars starting and pints being pulled, attempts to jump over a garden fence, and another Cornetto moment all featuring. I would expect most people to exit the cinema with a big contented grin on their face!