Pirates

I genuinely admire Reggie Yates. All the way from Sunday mornings with Fearne and Dev...to his recent documentaries.

But this was bad. Really bad.

It badly lacked 'polish'. The idea was OK, I guess. Nothing new that hasn't been done before.

Anyway, this came across like it was made by someone that heard about the era from someone...and made a movie about it, without actually being there.

Too much cringe for me...and editing that adds to the cringe.

Sadly, this wasn't the icing on Reggie's cake that I wanted it to be. Over-reliant on the music of the time.

Many better films to watch in this genre.

I was looking forward to watching it cos it's definitely my era but it wasn't really funny, bit embarrassing at times and the quite a lot of the music wasn't out in 99 so not brilliantly accurate to the time.

Pirates is a turn-of-the-century set comedy that is wholly good-natured and funny in bursts. Three friends aimlessly drive around London in a beater Peugeot. They laugh and listen to booming music. They are young men with a future as broad as the new millennium ahead. What could go wrong?

Pirates is an easy-going comedy with truly fun characters. But what should be a simplistic plot becomes nearly as directionless as the M25.

Writer/director Reggie Yates smashingly captures the kinetic energy of their youthful lifestyle, one that mostly consists of spinning albums and devouring takeaway. Yates perfectly captures that feeling of being young, broke, and powerful. The situational humor the three easily fall into more than makes up for their thick, proprietary slang. Yet amidst the inside jokes and a Jamaican jerk chippy, the true conflict of the story becomes misplaced. Instead, Pirates becomes a base quest for good times. The humorous asides mix with the loud beats of the music, regrettably masking out those necessary beats of drama.

Edusah, Peters, and Elazouar are charming and enjoyable. They deserve to be seen more in this medium.

Pirates is a very short comedy that accomplishes a lot within the 80 minute run time, centring on three best friends during the most important new year's eve of their lives and all the subsequent chaos created. There's still luls between laughs but it's never boring and built on foundations that are as sturdy as they are familiar. Classic scenarios such as the trio squabbling over their different futures, constantly fumbling the attempts to get with someone they like and failing to get into an exclusive party are all accounted for here.

Elliot Edusah, Jordan Peters and Reda Elazouar are all very endearing from the start. Their chemistry is on point so they do feel like a close knit group of friends who are just a lot of fun to spend time with. The film strikes a nice balance in its screen time which allows all of them to get ample time in the spotlight as different scenarios require each of them to rise to the task. The arc they go is heartwarming as well with their friendship being tested and is stronger for it.

Reggie Yates' direction has an infectious energy that's sustained pretty consistently and is a generally solid directorial debut. It's present in both the occasional snappiness of Ash White's editing and the overall atmosphere of the film. Fittingly, there's also a good soundtrack which is also employed for comedic effect. Despite the presence of gaps between gags, the pacing is strong since no scene or extended joke ever feels like its overstaying its welcome and it's always a good time even at its lowest point.

This could have been great, but the script lets it down. The cinematography is brilliant. The colour grading and edit is fantastic. The story is meh, and the acting could be better. But, for a comedy film, it just wasn't funny.