For years, Bobcat Goldthwait’s cult classic Shakes the Clown was the only adult-oriented black comedy featuring an almost all-clown list of dramatis personae. But hooray – now there’s another one! Or nearly, because admittedly there are a few nonclown characters here. This superbly titled film is a goofy, wildly uneven but ultimately watchable low-budget Irish caprice that mostly revolves around an ad hoc troupe of outsider clowns (a phrase that may be a tautology) who are thrown together when a freak solar flare wipes out all the electricity in Ireland, or maybe the world.
Luckily, Bobo (David Earl), a washed-up clown with a squirty-flower boutonniere and little to no talent, does have a wind-up car that doesn’t need electricity. He ends up piling in the vehicle with prissy aspirant mime-clown Pepe (Fionn Foley), a helium-voiced street clown named Funzo (Natalie Palamides, giving an antic scene-stealer of a performance) who may have “gone Scary” judging by her Pennywise look, duplicitous gag-thief The Great Alfonso (Ivan Kaye) and, strapped to the car roof, the corpse of Pepe’s erstwhile mentor, clown emeritus Jean DuCocque (Barry McGovern).
