Les Dennis, the comic and former Family Fortunes presenter, has done solid work in musical theatre and found a late-career phase on television in sending himself up as an ironised national treasure for Ricky Gervais and Reeves and Mortimer. But it’s difficult to find any postmodern justification for this dire indie Britfilm comedy which is directed and scripted like kids’ TV – albeit a very filthy sort of kids’ TV.
Dennis plays Pendrick, who tours provincial theatres with a tragically naff mind-reading act, often in the company of his peppery agent Gerald (Anthony Head), who has to feed him his cues and get him out of trouble when his heavy drinking and foul-mouthed abuse of the paying customers and theatre management get out of hand. But does Pendrick have a secret? One person in the audience who thinks so is Eva (April Pearson). With a dopey incompetent accomplice called Dom (Nathan Clarke), she plans to break into his flat, with all its tatty posters and memorabilia, and get at something that might actually be worth more than money.
Now, there is mileage in that initial setup and the movie certainly does end with an ingenious and unexpected bang after 95 minutes of whimperingly ropey dialogue and sub-Viz gross-out stuff, as well as offensive gags about a minority, which are supposed to be justified (but aren’t) by a final plot reveal. Again and again, the thought occurs: this material wouldn’t pass muster for any type of TV comedy, so why is it making it into a feature film? And with talented professionals who have done better things on the small screen? It’s a puzzle.
• Sideshow is released on 11 March in cinemas.
