Fun, poignant, yet lacking a little something extra

Rating: 6/10 (6 December 2014)

(58%) An oddball comedy/drama that's centred equally around music and musicians than it is about mental illness. Despite this being undoubtedly set very much in the real world, and with the plot structured in a perfectly normal manner, it's still a very unique trip into the lives of one of the most weird fictional musical groups in film history. Combined with the nutty shenanigans this offers fine performances from the strong cast, some very well crafted writing, and really quite faultless direction. Despite there being enough plot, character, humour, and substance to fill its 85 or so minutes this really isn't something for everyone, or indeed something that every film fan must watch, as it's a movie largely about a group misfit ex-mental patients clanging together pots and pans, one of whom with a Frank Sidebottom likened head, which really is strange for the sake of being strange. It's an interesting, sometimes funny movie, but really not a brilliant, must-see one.