"Written, directed by, and starring Paul McDermott" - a review by pearlyI'm not really all that fond of Paul McDermott's work. Sure, I watched the first 3000 episodes of Good News Week, but after that, I got a little bored with it. With this, McDermott's debut film, he has adapted a kind-of adult, macabre children's book (if you will) that he wrote, and turned it into a film, and, to be more precise, a short film.
Narrated by Ruth Cracknell, the film is part live action, part animation. Each of the five lead characters (the good guys) is played by an actor, while the backdrops as well as the various monsters in the story are all cardboard cut-out animated around the cast. It's almost like a play with two-dimensional sets, but on the big screen.
McDermott casts two of his long-time cohorts, both Flacco (Paul Livingston) and the Sandman (Steve Abbott) along with himself. Two females round out the bunch, with Sara Groen playing the younger version of the woman narrated by Cracknell. The film didn't come across as unique in any way to me, nor was it funny (I don't know whether it was meant to be, but I'm assuming so, as I believe McDermott is of the opinion that he is always funny).
Each of the characters is odd in some way, but not too much effort has been gone to. McDermott himself is suited up in a fluffy white bear suit, another wears a white contact lens, one has a black mask kinda like what you would have seen on someone's face in Eyes Wide Shut (1999), but more like one that you would buy at a supermarket. Thankfully McDermott's enormous hands are hidden by the bear suit, because those things are creepy. |
Rating given: 10
A comment from Julie on Sat 12 Mar 2005 04:02 #
Rating given: 10
A comment from Gareth on Thu 14 Apr 2005 20:50 #
Rating given: 10
A comment from Lou on Fri 17 Jun 2005 21:29 #
Rating given: 1
A comment from Zivko on Tue 26 Jul 2005 20:41 #
Rating given: 8
A comment from Skip on Wed 10 Dec 2008 10:37 #
Rating given: 10
A comment from Kimberly on Mon 21 Sep 2009 14:11 #