League of Gentleman: Apocalypse – First Review

Under the starlight cover of darkness a secret press screening for the big screen version of The League of Gentleman has taken place.

No doubt all the lucky viewers were sworn to secrecy, but there’s always one that lets something slip.

The most fantastically bizarre bit of TV comedy in the last ten years has recieved the fat budget movie treatment. Apart from a smidgen of digital tinkering (let’s hope the new Doctor Who visual effects department aren’t involved), it’s all finished and ready to ship.

So, are we talking Bean or Brian here? Ladies, Gentleman and Dave, it’s time to find out…

For those unfamiliar or just desperate not to jump on a trend until it’s subsided, The League of Gentleman is an utterly weird sitcom set in the fictitious town of Royston Vasey. All manner of inbreeds, freaks and Germans either inhabit or drift in and out of this god-awful place for three successful BBC series’.

It’s all incredibly funny and just a little bit sick. Perhaps what’s so great about League is that it understands the first rule of comedy. Yes, you can be clever, original, satirical, controversial or strange (even the whole gamut if you’re Gervais), but you must be funny as well. 

An obvious point, but one so often ignored by all manner of recent BBC Three comedy ‘experiments’. Anyone for a two hour movie version of The Smoking Room? The witticism, the nuances, the downright bloody boringness of it all. Yes ‘we do that’, but that doesn’t always make it funny, okay writer Brian Dooley?

Tumbling like Michael Jackson’s defence (gotta mention that once a day), we rejoin our promise to tell you whether or not The League of Gentleman: Apocalypse is actually any good. Well, you can unclench a little ‘cos the forecast is rosy.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the film,” commented a grass, sorry source, on Fat Harry’s Ain’t It Cool News, “although viewers unfamiliar with the television series might come out of it scratching their heads and wondering what the fuck they just saw.”

Sounds infinitely promising.

This squealing source went onto recite full details of the press junket, describing how Leaguers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson stood up front announcing the film like frightened bunnies.

As well they might be frightened. Most big screen versions of popular British TV series’ are utter drivel. Pumped full of silly Yankee money and often produced under the guidance of someone more interested in next year’s Aston Martin than making a decent movie. Can’t blame them for that we suppose, but it doesn’t making sitting through Bean, The Avengers or Guesthouse Paradiso any easier does it?

With such concerns apparently unfounded we can all breathe a sigh of relief because Apocalypse’s plot sounds more fun than crashing your car into a Häagen-Daz factory. Providing your car is shaped like a giant cornet and they let you keep everything you hit of course.

“The film concerns what happens when the League decide to stop writing about Royston Vasey. This causes an apocalypse in the town, and the characters are left with no option but to find a way into the real world.” 

A fascinating, brilliant and potentially troublesome idea that appears to have been a gamble worth taking. 

“Put succinctly, characters from our real universe and two separate fictional universes come together, interact and occasionally kill one another.”

Brilliant. With quality assurances up, a hilarious sounding plot, plus all the Leaguers in place, we could be talking one hell of a funny way to spend your Saturday evening. More funny than a constant stream of Python clips on TV compilation shows anyway. Ground breaking? Who gives a toss, we want funny.

And it seems like we might actually get it.

Hecklerspray has no reason to doubt the sincerity of our aforementioned source. Ain’t it Cool has long been Big Daddy in knocking out exclusiveness designed to annoy the merry hell out of panicky movie producers. The source could be an idiot mind, and that’s something we can’t guarantee. Leaves us nicely open for a retraction later if need be.

Tell your friends you were at the screening if you fancy. Our quotes will back you nicely.

Still not sure? Go to amazon.co.uk  and get The League of Gentleman TV series on DVD.  This way you can join the human race in time for Apocalypse’s national release on June 3rd.

[story by Chris Laverty]