Bob's Weekend

This debut movie of director Jevon O'Neill was both thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable, with a fantastic performance by Bruce Jones. At times surreal in concept, the atmosphere is gentle and good-humoured enhanced by sophisticated cinematography and a pithy , pacey script. A great 'feel-good' movie encompassing humour, pathos and imaginative locations (more positive representation for the North) which leaves you feeling that you have spent the last 90 minutes watching something worthwhile ( one of the last screen appearances of the late and great Brian Glover being another bonus).

I sincerely hope that Jevon O'Neill will soon be directing another such quality film.

A truly enjoyable British film that follows our hero Bob through a very difficult weekend in his life. Just about every man's worst fears come to fruition for Bob, who then decides to deal with the fallout by going on the run in what could only be described as a Northern Walkabout. He is helped along the way by Angela, who becomes his companion and guardian angel. Their journey is funny, sad, happy, but mostly surreal. There are some fantastic performances including a powerful (extended)cameo by Brian Glover in one of his last film appearances. Corrie fans will get a huge kick out of seeing Bruce Jones (Les Battersby on the Street)as Bob, whose performance does nothing less than suck you into his world. The flow of the film is very exacting, pacey, and takes your emotions on ride as if you were on the pier in Blackpool. It is hard for me to believe that this was Jevon O'Neill's first feature film as a director. O'Neill's style is surely his own, but I was reminded of Capra throughout, and the way he tactfully injects misery,humour,and imagery makes the film very enjoyable. I have watched it a few times now, and I even have some favourite lines (always a good metric of a movie in my book).

... not a proper review this, more a series of random comments in an attempt to redress the balance.

If I was writing a "proper" review I'd do a little bit of research, structure this into paragraphs and chose a title quote. As it is, while I enjoyed the film I hadn't planned to post a comment until I saw the low score (though from only 31 votes) and scathing comments already posted.

So to stand up for Bob's Weekend I say ignore the somewhat jaunty, cheesy title - this isn't a British sex farce from the late 70s, but a dark, occasionally surreal take on a man's journey to the edge of suicide.

I never usually try to reference other users' comments in a negative way as it's bad mannered, but some of the views expressed under this entry shocked me with their perceptions. One of the few positive reviews suggested that Coronation St. fans would like it - would they?!!? - and another suggested that Bruce Jones is flat. To me, he's not flat, he's underplaying. There's a clear actoral direction running throughout - to cite Jones as being wooden is the same as criticising the two fairground attendants for being unnaturalistic. It's clearly been guided as such, just as the heavily stylised beating they give Jones is deliberately unrealistic.

What I really admired most about Bob's Weekend was the writing, which was well above standard for a film. Okay, it veers into uneasy territory when it tries explicit comedy - Brian Glover's cameo unbalances the film while he's on screen and the final pay-off is a stinker - but with musings on the nature of time and the value of life this isn't something you'll see every day.

There are other plusses, too, but, like I said, I never planned to write a review. All I can say is... give it a go. 7/10.

Post-script: In 2012 there are no longer any negative IMDb comments on this film, rendering parts of my review meaningless. There have also been over 100 additional votes, making the film slightly more popular on here than it once was. Lastly, I've no idea why in my review I state that it's "7/10" when I clearly gave it an 8.

It`s often a dangerous sign when a Brit flick opens with a scene featuring an actor who`s famous for a role in a soap opera . Does anyone remember that gawd awful movie THE WEDDING TACKLE that had Leslie Grantham from EASTENDERS in it ? Boy that was a really rank movie , so when BOB`S WEEKEND opening scene had Bruce Jones ( Les Battersby from CORONATION STREET ) alarm bells started ringing in my head , a situation not helped when moments later another CORONATION STREET regular ( Samia Ghadie ) appeared in a walk on role . It`s also impossible to think of Jones as anyone except Les from CORONATION STREET since being type cast as a regular character from a famous soap does tend to kill off an actors career

Despite this BOB`S WEEKEND works because it`s like watching a slightly grittier version of CORONATION STREET and it`s very easy to recommend this movie to fans of the soap . Bob is almost a clone of Les as eternal failure seems to heap up upon him . There`s a scene with Jones and Brian Glover that could have come from a classic episode of the Manchester soap opera followed by a scene that could have easily featured Janice Battersby and a " taxi driver " , with darkly comic scenes coming by the bucketload

I`m not a fan of soap operas but if you like CORONATION STREET you`ll enjoy this Brit flick .