The comedy double act is a curious beast, it’s all about chemistry, timing and being funny. So when Huge opens with homage snatches of legendary comedy double act Morecambe and Wise, just for a second you think this will be bang on the money. But sadly they set them up, and nobody knocks them down. There’s not many laughs. In fact it’s so lacking in laughs that as the plot unravels you can’t help but wonder whether you’ve either just had a massive comedy bypass or it is in fact a serious drama about two people who think they’re hilarious but are actually incapable of seeing how unfunny they are. It takes more than a comedy shirt to lift a room. Warren and Clarke (Johnny Harris and Noel Clarke) are a pair of aspiring young comics, hungry for the fame and the laughs.
Directed by Ben Miller, Huge started life as a stage play and the scenes in the film that have the most depth are the sleazy back street comedy clubs – there’s some tremendous glimpses of live stand up, Sarah Kendall delivers some killer lines from her set. In fact, if comedy royalty is what you’re looking for, this film reads like a Who’s Who, with cameos from Jo Brand to Stephen K Amos. They’re all there necking the free bar like they’re on death row. Even Michelle Ryan turns up working as a waitress (not in a cocktail bar, Greek restaurant), clearly still waiting for her big Hollywood break. The movie really takes a turn for the worse when Warren and Clarke do achieve some success, it’s confusing, inexplicable and ridiculous. At no point do you get the sense that this double act could realistically make any money telling jokes, or let alone by offering to add fries to that drive-thru burger order.
It might but frustrating for some audience members but thankfully we are spared the horror and we never get to see their act. Huge is a film about tepid ambition, friendship and self-belief but ultimately it just doesn’t have funny bones.
Showing @ Cineworld 18th of June 18:00
Showing @ Cameo 1, 20th of June 15:45