The Booze Cruise

What a delightful surprise. I hadn't thought I would watch this, expecting another example of of bad behaviour, foul language and drunkeness.

But nothing of the sort. Instead an excellent drama, full of comedy that made me laugh out loud (and that doesn't often happen these days). Brilliant. 10 out of 10. We need more dramas like this.

It was well written with great acting and good direction and editing. The fun was original and kept me riveted, wondering what was going to happen next. The upsets were not driven into pathos and left you feeling that all's well that ends well. More like this please (and an early repeat showing too).

It's five blokes on their dream escape to France to really stock-up and save a substantial wodge of cash in the process. It's pre-Brexit and at a time when it was very easy to bring back copious amounts of booze for personal consumption only back from the continent.

Of course that's now much more difficult. It's got a lot of slapstick British humour with plenty of quips and mockering. It's classic English humour.

It's not the best-of-scripts but it is done very well and I would not change too much. It's got some pedigree English TV actors lead by the illustrious Martin Clunes.

Literally five blokes on a mission to get their quality booze. Except it doesn't go as planned. There's an affair. There's several disasters. There's plenty of slapstick. It's getting the lads together and an adventure. It's quality British TV and pre-Brexit when life was a lot easier. Great stuff.

The Booze Cruise (2003) follows a group of men who go on a booze cruise to France where they experience success and many mishaps along the way. This film is a lot of fun and a very enjoyable watch! The actors all do great jobs and play very loveable and funny characters.

The film doesn't have much in terms of cinematography and there's no notable colour palettes, but this isn't really an issue considering the film's focus is on the characters and humour. The lighting is mainly very natural looking, and all the shots are clear and professionally filmed.

The original score is incredibly goofy, and adds to the humour of the movie in a fairly subtle way. The music used definitely fits the overall tone and vibe of the film, and the sound design is decent without being over-the-top.

What makes this film a blast to watch is definitely the characters; the actors all do great jobs at bringing likeable and well written characters to life. All the characters contrast each other nicely, with drastically different personalities and a lot of chemistry between them. Also, the dialogue is well written, including a lot of funny and witty jokes.

Lastly, this film is an easy watch that anyone can have a good time watching. Not much actually happens, but I found myself consistently entertaining due to the performances and writing. The movie is structured in a basic yet clear manner that follows Todorov's theory of equilibrium.

I watched this on TV tonight, remembering with vague fondness its original outing in 2003. It was a delight, with an excellent script supported by a first rate cast. Not subtle, but warm, clean and really rather innocent fun. All Whilst the strongest elements were the combative relationship between Brian Murphy and Neil Pearson the sub stories with Ben Wishaw and Martin Clunes was also strong. Meanwhile back at home the wives (Claire Skinner and Anne Reid) were also enjoying themselves. Some predictable turns but all done with such charm that the 2 hours flew by. A real treat.

The blokes are a really mixed bag. Back home, the ladies are also across different social backgrounds. Lots of little avenues off the main road here and they all work. Great little scenarios and twists. Not laugh aloud humour but gives you plenty to grin at and like. Just watched it again. Pity that the Clive character (M Clunes), is not in the 2nd and 3rd editions.