I have to admit to enjoying Chris Lilley’s first two comedy series and the characters he created, so I was looking forward to ‘Angry Boys’ premiere last night.
I’m afraid that hope was dashed.
What do comedians do to get a laugh when they have run of good jokes?
Use the ‘f’ word liberally and edgy humour. I’m not offended by the ‘f’ word and I really don’t care much when its used, but last night had a certain cringe factor, partly from the language, but also from the icky politically incorrect jokes.
Again I don’t usually get offended by political incorrectness – in fact I think we need a good dose of it every now and then to keep us living in the real world – but again you got the feeling that in th absence of a good script it was easier to say ‘f*&k’ or poke fun at a deaf kid than to come up with something clever.
What a shame. Another talented comedian takes the easy route rather than doing the hard work to be genuinely funny.
Ok, so I read your ‘review’ of Angry boys just before I downloaded it from itunes.
Like you, I too have been a Lilley fan – Summer Heights High is simply brilliant.
So, knowing your disappointment, I prepared to watch Angry Boys with a little hesitation – setting my expectations to ‘cautiously low’.
Which meant I was overjoyed when I discovered how ‘crap’ a reviewer you are 😉 !!! Angry Boys is a continuation of that Lilley brilliance.
Set in the context of disfunction – so far at a regional juvenile detention centre with Gran and a rural, fractured family with teenage twins (Daniel and NATHAN!), the language is perfectly true to form, and the cringe factor sits easily within the satirical framework that Lilley lives within.
There is nothing said or done that isn’t stereotypically present in any Today Tonight’ “neighbourhood feud” or “rampant youths” ‘special’ report.
For those fans of Summer Heights High, the language and cringe factor is the same level as that of the scenes with Jonah (kiwi student) – if Lilley had have spent more time inside Jonah’s world in SHH, Angry Boys is what he would have come up with.
Sorry Hamo, I reckon you missed the mark with this ‘review’ – maybe Lilley isn’t the one who’s changed (read in the tone of the bumper stickers – “If it’s too loud, You’re too old”!) 😉
haha… maybe I am just getting old…
or maybe i should just tell you to ‘f–k off’ 🙂
I did actually think thru what you mentioned above before writing and i get the point you make. I just didn’t think it was very funny and adding the f word only seemed to accentuate that he was struggling…
Or maybe I’m just an old fart…
Hmmm… as I think about it we might have differed on a few other reviews in the past…
Maybe we have different tastes Matt!
yes, our history of media appreciation definitely shows a difference in taste 😉
Hamo,
as a newbie to Aussie, I was told to watch it cos it was so good it the past.
It left me scratching my head – some flashes of brilliance (faces of the guinea pigs), but much of the humour seemed to be at the expense of marginal groups – gays, ethic minorities.
As the credits rolled I wondered why Australians would think that is funny?
steve