Bunny Boilers

Bunny And The Bull is a film I'd never heard of until Movie-Con in August, and when Simon Farnaby, the titular Bunny of the film, and writer director Paul King took stage for a Q&A after some clips, including a hysterical Richard Ayoade as a shoe museum tour guide, I was desperate to see the completed film. Finally I scored a ticket to the Genesis cinema's screening of the film for the London Film Festival, a screening so packed and devoid of quality sound I was going to await a second screening before I judged it, until the release became so limited it was impossible to do so, now over a month later I've decided to review it.

Sadly the funniest moments are all in the trailer, as are some of the most awkwardly annoyingly cliched humourless moments, of which the film has a lot. Paul King's work with the Mighty Boosh TV show have clearly made him stay in their frame of mind instead of developing his own ideas, of which can be clearly seen as the best parts by the end. So desperate to have the two Boosh leads in his film, a random meeting with a Russian dog lover who offers milk to Ed Hogg's Stephen, yet 'hysterically' he offers a beer to Bunny, Julian Barrett just gurns for the camera. In a separate vignette, Noel Fielding as a bullfighter does his usual, odd, random, then normal schtick, and it's just as grating, I enjoyed the pair's antics for two series, but by the time everyone loved them they got so smug and painful watching the best stuff is impossible.

Even with a budget of £1million Paul King sticks with the Boosh style, projected backgrounds of animations in South Park cut out ways for cheapness, and whilst it's visually amazing at points, the film's cliched characters, dull premise and painfully boring leads don't help the film, the best part is the emotional punch the film kicks into the audience an hour and twenty five minutes in when you realise what the title is referring to, and you suddenly know how it's going to end, yet you don't want it to.

It's just a shame that the opening hour and a half are so dull and made-for-tv that it never manages to hit the highs of a certain other gang of TV sitcom greats that transcended into cinema, Wright, Pegg anyone?
Still, it's not Lesbian Vampire Killers, so well done there.
6/10