Audience Member
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<B><I>CRYING WITH LAUGHTER</I> (2009)</B> Independent
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Justin Molotnikov
FEATURING: Stephen McCole, Malcolm Shields, Andrew Neil, and Jo Hartley
GENRE: THRILLER
PLOT: A sinister, tightly-wound old school chum machinates a mysterious class "reunion" upon re-introducing himself into the life of a former classmate, years after a suspicious fire closed the military academy where they shared a dark secret.
COMMENTS: Solid performances compliment gritty Edinburgh locales in this disturbing, atypical thriller. Characters and motivations are well established and believable. Temporal plot shits make the mettlesome story suspenseful, enigmatic and edgy.
Joey Frisk (McCole) is a good-natured, stand-up comic, who drinks too much, dopes too much, wakes up with strangers, and is frequently in dutch for being a deadbeat. His wife bugs him for child support, and his landlord is threatening to kick him out, going so far as to show up at the club and heckle him on stage. He demands that Joey "be funny" until Joey breaks routine and threatens the guy in front of his audience.
Living from hand to mouth, and show to show, Joey has problems with blackouts and memory. In fact, there are some grey zones, details about his questionable past at a Scottish military academy that he has completely blanked out.
Obfuscating what he prefers not to recall by undertaking the challenge of being funny on stage, his big break is this weekend when an American agent will attend his performance. But Joey needs new material. Badly. And he is about to get just that from an unexpected source when he reunites with the uncanny Frank Archer (Shields), who claims to be a former classmate. Determined to lure Joey down memory lane, Frank begins to pop up at troublesome times and places. Joey would like to forget the past, but Frank has a plan to help him remember.
After Joey balks at tagging along with Frank to a class reunion, creepy things start to go wrong for him. He is charged with savagely beating his landlord, but can't remember a thing about the night in question. With Joey compromised and desperate, Frank makes him an offer he can't refuse. As Joey and Frank depart late at night for the old school, Joey suffers another mysterious black out.
Joey awakens realizing his command talent audition is just hours away. To get to it, he will have to deliver himself from a deepening drowning pool of madness. perversion, revenge and cruelty at his abandoned alma mater. The profaned, rippling tarn swirls around an aging headmaster's repellent secrets, double arson, and the kidnapping of Joey's young daughter. Joey is going to have to survive an horrific day, and look! The sun is coming up!
<div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11136763"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pHKbc-9ohPw/0.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I>Crying With Laughter</I></a> - UK trailer</div>
<div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11136761"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KqvvOxAmhxg/0.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I>Crying With Laughter</I></a> - US trailer</div>
<div style="width:120px;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"></div><a href="http://www.flixster.com/videos?videoId=11136762"><img src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UDpZDFEHW6g/0.jpg" border="0" /></a><div style="font-size:10px;width:120px;text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com"><I>Crying With Laughter</I></a> - alt trailer</div>
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
by Nina Dubravec for remotegoat on 19/10/09
TV director Justin Molotnikov's debut feature is a tragicomic thriller which explores the idea of 'memory' through three very different male characters. Filmed using mostly funding awarded through national screen agencies and a script improvised through workshops, the film is a good example of solid low budget film-making.
The protagonist is Joey Frisk, a stand-up comedian who is somewhat of a stereotype of the struggling anti-hero; a bad father who forgets to pick up his young daughter from his ex-wife, with a landlord constantly chasing him for unpaid rent and an agent who believes he can make it big despite his post-gig cocaine and alcohol binges. Just as his agent organises a very important gig for him, he bumps into an old school friend, Frank. Frank reminds Joey of their boarding school days, which Joey has no recollection of and is not interested in remembering. Frank's memory on the other hand is very clear and he is quickly reappearing at all of Joey's gigs, keen to strike up a friendship. We soon realise that Frank the friendly stalker, is actually an ex SAS sociopath who frames Joey in order to blackmail him into attending quite a sinister school 'reunion'.
Although the film is often cliched it is also genuinely funny, particularly during Joey's comedy routines some of which were improvised during filming. It is however, Stephen McCole, who plays Joey, that really makes the film. McCole is excellent as the cocaine addicted comedian and the supporting cast are also very convincing.
The revenge plot of the film is not exactly original, however as the director pointed out in the Q&A it does have an interesting approach to the idea of memory which initiates the revenge. One character has memories which are much too clear causing him to live in the past, another has erased all his memories so that he can look to the future, while the third is stuck in the present with no former memories and unable to form any new ones. Considering its half a million pound budget, the film and cast do as well as they can with a not so original idea.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Good thriller which never gets dull. The strong point is in the telling, which uses the stand-up comic role to tell the story. Although this is the classic film narrative, it feels very fresh through this medium.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
I LOVE THIS MOVIE. It precisely depicts how to become a 'good' comedian! You have to face with a thing that you do not want to face. You dig into it, examine and analyise it, and even expand it! This is definitely a must-watch movie.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
An excellent movie on all counts I thoroughly enjoyed it start to finish. A dark tale about our lead character Joey (Stephen McCole) a Scottish comedian who's dark humour and wit could be paralleled with a certain Mr. Boyle. An chance encounter makes Joey have to explore his past and the dark secrets of a past life he may have tried to forget.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
Audience Member
If you don't laugh you will cry ! I really enjoyed this movie even more than I expected. An exciting and unexpected journey into Joey's (Stephen McCole) previous life before comedy. Do all comedians have a dark past that they are trying to hide?
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
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