Tinsel Town

This was really good. It basically knocked everyone down a peg:

(1) the fight between the two men where they were basically flailing around was hilarious. No Hollywood BS showing men being superheros. This takes macho men down a peg.

(2) all of the parents made mistakes.

(3) the ridiculousness of celebrity worship was exposed and THAT took both celebrities and those that worship them down a peg.

(4) people who get prudish about sex AND in particular those that show this by insisting only "hot" young people be allowed to have sex or talk about it were taken down a peg. How? The double entendres being made by everyone and it being hilarious.

Normally I hate when movies or TV shows are about the production of a play, movie or TV show. The actors all get weird and make obvious tongue in cheek statements like "I wish I could act". And I always think in response: "yes i wish you could too". Well there was none of that here despite this being about putting on a panto. It worked!

Look guys don't expect some cinematic masterpiece, it is a made for TV Christmas film that makes you laugh and smile and that is all it needs to do, I enjoyed it was a bit of fun and as friend once said it was chewing gum for the eyes on a Sunday night worth a watch.

The cast is great Derek Jacobi is the legend you expect, Kiefer took the tongue in cheek to the next level and full Marks to Rebel Wilson for a passable accent. I also though the young girl who played cinders was good tooo.

I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't that. For starters don't give the role of a British dance teacher to an Australian that couldn't sound British if they paid her (oh yes, they did!) honestly her British accent is awful. When she played a British woman from Grimsby in a film of the same totle, she sounded half Yorkshire and half Australian. And no! Grimsby isn't in Yorkshire. Was she cheap? Is that why they got her? I could think of so many better actors for the job. Now, onto Keifer.. I like him, he's good. But.. He just looked awkward all the way through. There was no back stories for anyone but him. So we didn't get to know everyone. It didn't pull us in emotionally. I wanted to see more double entendres from the ugly sisters.. I really liked them but we hardly saw them. I wanted to get to know the cast of the production. Maybe it would have made the running time longer but I think it needed it.

Swap out Keifer and Rebel, put some believable actors in there and let us fall for them. Danny Dyer was brilliant! He played a great part. Made for him. I mean the show revolves around Keifer and Wilson, but we knew nothing about her or the other cast.

With two different actors I think it could have been great. It's a great premise for a film. I just couldn't get invested. Keifer was just too wooden. Wilson was totally unbelievable and who was she? No idea. Don't really care to be honest.

I would say it's still worth a watch but be prepared to feel awkward from start to finish.

Stroke of genius having Derek Jacobi in it. Now that man could play any part and we would love him no matter what. I fell for his character emotionally. Class act!

There is one performance of note. Derek Jacobi is so out-of-place WONDERFUL, in general of course, but in one scene in particular.

I saw one user review gave a whole extra two stars to their score as a result of that one scene, and so have I. 😅

Mawaan Rizwan also elicits at least a couple of laughs as the comic relief, and it's fun spotting the stars of the UK comedy scene playing minor characters.

Without any spoilers there is one scene where a criminal is violently apprehended and I genuinely believed it was a plot point that it was faked because of the comical staging and blocking showing a clear three feet (at least!) between the criminal and they who caught him.

But hey, Christmas and that innit.

I scored a 5/10 and I'm being generous, purely because it's Christmas. This film could have been a festive spectacular, however it was disappointing and unfulfilling for our annual Christmas film night in.

I don't mind Rebel Wilson but she wasn't right for this role, the Yorkshire or British accent just didn't work at all and in nearly every scene, her Aussie accent came back.

This film had to potential to be amazing, all the others supporting actors (not main) were great.

I didn't get that Christmas cheer and very quite relieved when it ended.

It needed Sarah Lancashire or Hugh Grant type actors!

I'll end with.. did I say it was disappointing?