Festival

Ok. More fun location spotting than watching the film. Not even that redolent of a late summer in Edinburgh. A lot of actors under used. Nothing fleshed out, no one particularly interesting. Very superficial. Doesn't add up to much. Ultimately a bit pointless. If art is this depressing why bother?

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It's that time of year again and Edinburgh is awash with artists coming to perform at the on the fringe of the festival. Among them is Dwight Swan a famous comedian who has rather let it go to his head; his put-upon PA Petra; Tommy O'Dwyer, an Irish comedian who has been at the festival for nine consecutive years without a mention in the comedy awards; a young woman who is staging an one-woman show about Dorothy Wordsworth in the challenging 9am slot; a bubbly "Jewish" comedian keen to do whatever it takes to get to the top and a local BBC journalist with some complex relationships.

From the creator of The Book Group and featuring a host of recognisable faces from British comedy, I was intrigued by this film and initially quite drawn in by its sharp edge, natural feel, laughs and multi-character approach to the narrative. It had energy and it captured the feel of a festival (albeit I cannot speak for the Edinburgh one in particular). This makes for a good start to the film as it sets up lots of characters and also has an affectionate at the types of people and acts at the festival – not ever being overly cruel but not shying away from poking fun where it is deserved. This makes for an enjoyable film but not an ultimately satisfying one. As the film goes on it puts more onus on the stories rather than the references and this is where it could have been stronger. Some of the stories are pretty good but the majority don't really hang together that well and are little more than a sense of a time and place rather than being engaging.

Griffin may struggle with this but she does everything else pretty well. The film is well directed and uses the festival itself to good effect. As writer she produces sharp characters who may be easily pigeonholed but rarely in a lazy fashion. The cast respond well to the fun material, although none of them really succeed in developing their characters much further than Griffin had taken them. Ayoade has a simple character and does it well while O'Dowd does a solid "blustering Irishman" similar to his IT Crowd character. Cassidy and Nardini are both impressive and indeed most of the cast turn in solid performances in mostly small roles.

Overall this is an amusing ensemble comedy that benefits greatly from Griffin's own experience on the Edinburgh Fringe. The material doesn't develop much beyond a certain point and does have a rough, messy feel to it but this is not a fault so much as the idea – imitating the feel of the Fringe itself. Not perfect and understandable why it didn't ever grab much of an audience but an enjoyably rough comedy nonetheless.

Being from Edinburgh and suffering/enjoying the International Festival & Fringe for many years this film was always going to be of great interest to me. I did expect it to be dreadful, as so many UK-produced efforts can be, but actually ended-up enjoying large parts of it.

Edinburgh during the festival can be a strange place for the natives - the city is descended upon by hordes of media-types and desperate actors/comedians/whatever. During this time many locals will simply let out their flats at exorbitant rates and go on holiday thereby avoiding the whole rather disagreeable event.

With Festival you can play 'which celeb comedian is that meant to be' as well as 'which pub are they in' and 'where's that again' - being a local helps and you get the same familiar sense of enjoyment as when reading Ian Rankin's Rebus series (also set in Edinburgh.) The acting is good and there are some genuinely funny moments although the dialogue can be quite weak in places.

By miles, the worst element in this film is the music. It's intrusive, adds nothing to the drama and on occasions completely ruins the scene.

All-in-all if you're not from Edinburgh, Festival is hugely entertaining and will probably make you want to come here for next year's ever - if you need somewhere to stay I've got a lovely flat near the Assembly Rooms...

The Edinburgh Festival deserves a film. It is a strange occasion in a great city, and huge numbers of people around the world have experienced it. It brings its own array of bizarre characters and situations, mixing them with the locals, and then takes them away again just as quickly, until next year when some of them come back for more. If that's not a recipe for some interesting comedy/drama, I don't know what is.

Unfortunately this film fails to hit the mark. It is structured quite well, and I liked the idea of following one venue through the course of its day. The overall atmosphere of the city is well-caught too, on the whole, and people who know Edinburgh in August will recognise it.

But its main flaw is lack of empathy. There are quite a lot of characters, some of whom are quite funny, but very few of whom are particularly likable and attractive. Those who are likable often lack authenticity, and everyone suffers from a lack of depth. The episodic plot is also patchy - some of the events that befall certain characters have nothing at all to do with the Edinburgh Festival and seem almost to have been put in as time-fillers.

To be fair, there are some funny moments and quite a few good lines. But put it this way: If it's on TV and not costing you anything, then by all means watch it. However, I paid £3 to rent it, and by the end I felt it wasn't really worth the money.