JohnHowardReid
There are only two ways you will react to this movie: You will either love it or you'll hate it. There is absolutely no in-between. The opening scenes set the character of the whole film which, admittedly, is written, directed and played in a most unusual style. Needless to say, I loved it. My only quandary is deciding who gave the best performance. Most people pick Rik Mayall and he is most certainly the best of a whole screen-full of absolutely unique, way- out male characters. Admittedly, he and everyone else were given a great script to work on. But my favorite of favorites is undoubtedly Jane Horrocks. The scene in which she strips down to black briefs and bra and vigorously ignites her song is a classic interlude that deserves listing as one of the Best Twenty Movie Scenes ever made. All the acting is absolutely first class. The only point I'd like to raise is who is this Mavis Davis? There is no Mavis Davis character in the cast at all. Is this an intentional inside "joke", or am I really missing something? This movie is available on a superb – and I really mean "superb" – Trinity DVD.
Theo Robertson
Pop Svengali Marty Starr is in a little bit of trouble with shady American Bruce whose son has ambitions to be a pop star so Marty decides the best way to keep his kneecaps is to come up with a get rich quick scheme BRING ME THE HEAD OF MAVIS DAVIS has few fans and while it's not exactly consistently laugh out loud it's by the same token not a truly terrible British comedy , I did see THE WEDDING TACKLE the previous night so I know what an abysmal comedy from this small island looks like believe me Much of criticism may have to do with the casting of Rik Mayall as Marty , as everyone is keen to point out his character is very similar to Alan B'stard from THE NEW STATEMAN but dissimilar enough to make you notice that Marty is very much an inferior comic character to that of the Tory MP but any deficiencies are made up by the supporting cast especially Jane Horrocks and Marc Warren The script by Craig Strachen is slightly uneven containing mainly moments that are fairly predictable but one or two bits are very funny . Perhaps the script can be summed up where Marty goes to buy some drugs from a rent boy where the audience are one step ahead of the script ( You can guess what's gonna happen next ) but contains a misunderstanding at the police station where Marty's cell mate starts to pull his trousers downOften predictable , sometimes amusing and there's worst movies I've seen this week that were made in Britain
Paul Creeden
Rik Mayall won my sense of humor in the wonderful 80s Britcom, "The Young Ones", which I highly recommend to the uninitiated. Jane Horrocks is extremely talented and does a great job. Danny Aiello plays a wonderfully smart and silly Mafia don. The film is silly. But, I still think silly is funny, when it is done with some intelligence. The best part of this film for me was the sprinkling of fabulously absurd character roles throughout the story. Aiello's bodyguards, the puerile hit man, the insecure security supervisor. All very clever. Ronald Pickup as Mayall's competition is also very funny. If you like the slappy end of Brit comedy, I think this film will satisfy you quite nicely.
psico
I think this film is very funny and highly underrated.You have to have seen Rick Mayall in the New Statesman to understand how well he can play a shifty businessman. Jane Horrocks performs very well (Particularly when you realise she does her own singing) and for me seemed very believable. Whilst some of the side plot lines may seem tenuous and dare I say it even a little dry, the whole piece spirals toward the climax of both the tour and the movie with Rick Mayall 's character bouncing in an emotional maelstrom between love and hate. (One of the smaller scenes which is actually very funny is when Mayle is being driven to see the gang boss. in a 30 second piece they manage to put a parody of Pulp Fiction and a very funny gag about answering questions. (In fact when they get to talk the secondary characters (and the thugs in particular) are given some great lines) If you can forgive the straight-to-tv look and like the Rick Mayall of Alan B'Stard instead of the Young ones or Bottom then this will have you laughing out loud.
AD
