One Man, Two Guvnors [Review]

***** out of *****

A National Theatre Live production, set in 1963, Brighton. "One Man, Two Guvnors" is a comedic tale of James Corden's character, Francis Henshall, an ex skiffle muso who seeks employment as a minder of a young woman disguised as her murdered dizygotic twin, Roscoe, (unknown to her) as well as her posh toff lover.

I've been to a few theatre productions in the last year, and this, unlike others, never had me thinking "is the interval coming any time soon?" or "this must be finishing soon, surely?". Don't get me wrong, the other performances I've also viewed such as "The Nutcracker", "Frankenstein" and "The Cherry Orchard" all of which I really enjoyed, particularly "Frankenstein", "One Man, Two Guvnors" is up there at the top of the list.

The auditorium was full, a sold out screen. Broadcasting live to over 150 different cinemas across Europe and America, I wish I was in London to view it live properly. However, I was in one of the 150 cinemas, but despite this, the atmosphere was fantastic. The audience were laughing and clapping pretty much throughout the whole performance.

James Corden provided an exciting improvisational act as well as his scripted parts, almost stealing the show, if it weren't for Tom Edden's character, the eccentric waiter, Alfie, who in every moment he was on the stage had the audience in complete hysterics, including at the end during the curtain call.

Fine acting by Polly Conwa, had the audience fooled, posing as an audience member herself [named Christine Patterson], as Corden hauled her on stage to play an extra in his aid to serve his two guvnors dinner whilst attempting to maintain his secret of working for both of them simultaneously as well as thieving portions of their meals, using the faux audience extra as his accomplice. A true sample of superb and convincing acting.

Each character provided their own unique flair that contributes to this terrific production. Besides characters already mentioned, you've also got Dolly and her sass, Stanley Stubbers snobby personality, Alan Dangle with his actor wannabe charm, Harry Dangle with his intellectual law jargon and Pauline with her blonde bimbo act.

A production by Richard Bean, it is really worth trying to catch a performance, although shows are sold out it is still possible to get hold of day tickets. There isn't just the performance of the play to enjoy either, but also the band "The Craze" that perform not only at the beginning before the show, but also in transitions between scenes, and they are also not to be missed.

Mr Popper's Penguins [Review]

Mr Popper's Penguins

[CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS]

*** out of *****

"Mr Popper's Penguins" is a family comedy film, directed by Mark Waters and stars Jim Carey.

We've seen Jim Carey through many brilliant films, and he has certainly passed his peek since "Ace Ventura", "The Mask", and "The Cable Guy", there is no denying he hasn't made a bad film yet, and "Mr Popper's Penguins" hasn't made the bad list either.

Jim Carey has tackled the abstractly absent father with ex-wife and children whom through a particular quest reconnects with them and understand family values before in "Liar, Liar", except, instead of the medium of a birthday wish, a far cuddlier and mischievous medium is used instead, penguins.

The overall plot is based around Mr Popper's character, whom is the cliche business man living in Manhattan who puts his work before his family. This is until he inherits a penguin from his father after he passes away which soon multiplies to six, and turns Mr Popper's life around, encouraging him to reconnect back with his family. Similar to the likes of "Hook" and as mentioned "Liar, Liar", this film is predictable but whole heartily great.

I've read a few reviews before I started to write this one, and I have to say, I am very surprised by the content of them, until I read a comment on one of them by one of the article's readers, a comment that I happen to agree with.

"Lubidog", a user on the "Daily Telegraph" commented on the review posted on there saying "This is why adults shouldn't review children's films! I have just returned from a viewing of this film with my six year old. The cinema was full of parents and grandparents, with their kids. And you know what? Everyone LOVED it!" I happen to agree. A lot of the reviews have commented that it's bland, or the film doesn't make sense, or it's unrealistic. Some of these comments are true, it is unrealistic, it doesn't make sense, but at the end of the day, this is a children's film, and obviously, imagination and creativity are the key ingredients in a family film.

What I did find confusing is that this particular film has been released in the middle of the summer, with the nature of the film having winter and Christmas themes, it would have been far more appropriate to release this film nearer the Christmas period. Perhaps this was released now due to how we often have Christmas shoved in our faces by the high streets six months early anyway, so why not? I do believe this film would probably have been better received if it was released nearer Christmas time.

Despite the odd release date, there's very few faults I could find. I was giggling a fair amount of times throughout the film, there was definite hints of the old Carey we know and recognize from his golden years.

Mr Popper's costume design is very fitting for his role as the father type to the penguins, a long black tail coat, which is fairly symbolic of a penguin itself, the style, colour and how it is worn, making Mr Popper looking like a human penguin. He often wears blue and light colour shirts which merges with the icy theme of the movie and his very bachelor apartment turned winter wonderland.

I do think the film lacked a harsh enough antagonist. You had the landlord and the Zoo Keeper as the main antagonists, but when the landlord found out about the forbidden pet additions to Mr Popper's apartment, he didn't really do much about it. The Zoo Keeper made an odd villain, as you could see his side of the story of taking the penguins away from Mr Popper, that it was better in the penguins interest of care etc, however, just because of the nature of the relationship between Mr Popper and the Penguins, that was the only reason why you wouldn't side with him.

Mr Popper could have done with starting off as being far harsher in his role of the career obsessed character role, finding the turn to the big family man more challenging then is represented, and further conflict between Mr Popper and his penguins before his epiphany that family comes first. Even for a family film, this would be better if wasn't overly light hearted.

The film was fairly fast paced, I feel that more could have been done, especially as I mentioned before with Mr Popper's character in his role in the development from corporate shark to best dad of the year.

I applaud Carey for taking a step back from the limelight as the adorable emperor penguins stole the show, each in their own individual qwerky personality.

I would definitely recommend this film to any family that enjoy the works of Carey and animals, as, despite it's icy cold themes, it's a heart warming family success.