Review of Kevin and Perry Go Large

Introduction

Quite often my reviews start out with a confession. This one is no different. I am a massive Harry Enfield fan, and have been ever since the heady days of "Stavros", "Loadsamoney", "Buggerallmoney", "Sir Harry Stocracy" and some of those other earlier characters.

Now it must be said that most of Harry`s work is not all his own work, with many of his greatest characters coming from Paul Whitehouse & Charlie Higson (who later took a lot of the characters that Harry didn`t like, plus plenty of new ones and turned them into "The Fast Show"), and other writers like Dave Cummings, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman.

But Kevin and Perry sprouted from Enfield`s own "Little Brother" sketches in his first BBC One series, and became the teenage monster who is the star of the film during the third of these BBC One series. He also gained his new friend Perry. And these two characters then made the jump to the big screen.

The plot isn`t up to much, chronicling events as our heroes try to get to Ibiza to meet girls and become superstar DJs, and then what happens when they finally get there. There`s also plenty of smut, cheap innuendo, cheap visual gags and more to try and keep you entertained.

Video

We`re presented with an anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer here (which was how the film was shot) and it looks good overall. There are one or two scenes at the beach that don`t look up to scratch, but these may have been intentional. You can feel the Ibizan sun during the day and feel the lights blazing in the nightclubs at night.

Audio

A DD5.1 soundtrack is on offer and it works very well. As you would expect for a film partly spent in Ibizan nightclubs, there`s a lot of dance music, and this gives your speakers a good workout and also adds to the film. If dance music is your thing, there are a lot of good tracks on here, although they are all pretty mainstream.

Apart from that the film is mostly dialogue, which comes across fine. There are a few sound effects that whizz around the soundstage, but not too many.

Features

A feature packed disc!

First up is a commentary track featuring Mr Enfield himself, Dave Cummings (co-writer) and director Ed Bye (whose name you will have seen on a million BBC comedies such as Red Dwarf, Bottom etc.) There are some good bits during the commentary, but there also some distinct lulls, which is a bit of a letdown as I`d been looking forward to the commentary track.

Spirits are lifted by the next extra though, which is "Kevin`s Guide to being a Teenager". This is almost an hour long, and was previously broadcast on BBC One. Featuring some new material, plus clips from old sketches and more this is a fantastic extra, and parts of it are probably funnier than the main feature.

My one gripe is that it seems to be presented in 14:9, when the original broadcast would have been 16:9 and anamorphic (certainly on digital TV). This is more annoying when you get to the older sketches, as these were filmed in 4:3 and then zoomed for the 16:9 broadcast, so you`re actually seeing a lot less of them in this feature.

There are also some cast & crew interview clips spread over a couple of sections, which turn out to be pretty good on the whole, a special effects feature which shows you some of the quality effects used, a "Dance Masterclass" to teach you those essential old-skool rave moves such as "Big Fish, Little Fish" and "Cardboard Box".

There are also two music videos, one of which you get to by answering the ridiculously easy quiz. Add to that TV spots, radio spots and trailers (including a good Blair Witch spoof) and you have a very well rounded set of extras.

Conclusion

This is a good disc. But it`s not such a great film.

Hardened Enfield fans such as myself will be quick to tell you that a lot of his TV work is so much better than this. There are still some great moments here, "proper film award winner" Kathy Burke is totally immersed in Perry and Rhys Ifans does a credible job as DJ Eyeball Paul.

Younger viewers will probably enjoy it more (even though it has a 15 certificate), but some of the jokes are rather past their tell-by date and wouldn`t even make it into an episode of Bottom.

So a mixed big screen debut for Harry Enfield, but a very good DVD. Fans of the film get an excellent package, and Enfield fans in general still get enough to make this worth buying. If jokes about bodily functions, spots and shagging aren`t your thing then stay well away.