We relaunched the Kickstarter campaign because we were offered a deal and Kickstarter wouldn’t let us change the target amount after we launched. So we had to cancel and start again - and as a thank you to fans who pledged and supported us - we posted the entire short film starring James and Bertie and Craig Fairbrass on the Kickstarter page - people love the short and are watching and sharing and pledging. So please spread the word - and do a little pledge - to support us. Here’s the link.
So, go there and see the film, and give generously if you can! :) I saw it last night and must say I laughed out loud many times - and I'm a humorless feminist, and this sort of humor isn't my favorite, so it's a good sign if I laughed. The site has a Facebook link to Mr Webster, if you'd like to leave feedback on the movie!
The film is funny and very, very naughty. I have never seen James in something with that many references to his... hee hee.. ahem, penis. It's hilarious to see James do something like this, after seeing him talk coyly in an interview about signing a girls "[long beat].. eh, bosoms". I'm not sure where James falls on the super naughty-not naughty at all spectrum, but I think you can safely say, Mr Webster is firmly on the super naughty side.
The short is only 25 minutes, so it's more like vignettes of raunchy scenes put together, and thus gives a trailerish feel. The full feature would have more of a focused story, and thus more room for the great material we've seen in the form of outtakes. The film had good stuff, but I was disappointed that they cut out the grandmother story, which is on the site as an outtake video. That was the scene I laughed at the most. My other complaint is that it's slightly too in your face, much in the style of shows like Californication and Weeds. As in, "OMG aren't we outrageous?" Webster is a great writer who does verbal fireworks skilfully, so the outrageousness isn't always necessary in my view. Sometimes the over-the-top quality worked well, though, especially with the "buttprint on laptop". I scared my cats laughing out loud at that one. But it might be a matter of taste. My taste runs more in the "hilarious verbal brilliance delivered with a serious face" category, which was also well represented here. There's a voice-over from James, which was enjoyable and hopefully will be there in the longer film too.
The acting is great throughout. James is very charming, doing the "wide-eyed sweet loser" (reminiscent of his own movie, Beginner's Luck, which was also a small budget feature with ambition). And he gets to be flirtatious - there are even a few quick sex scenes! But he appears fully clothed throughout, I mean WHY?? Why no shirt-free scenes? I hope Mr Webster realizes what the audience wants and needs. The most popular search leading to my blog has always been "James Callis shirtless". I'm hoping for some of that, as well as more "James with a dog" adorability, in the feature film. (We do get James in hilarious 80's gear, James jamming to headphones, and James with a sleeping mask on, though, so I'm reasonably happy.) The dog was almost completely left out of the film for some reason.
But I digress. The other male lead, Robert Portal, is also deliciously evil and very funny, and the female lead, Anya Lahiri, is doing a great job as the sexy and strong woman Pursuit falls for. I thought she had great chemistry with James. I'm not sure if she will be in the feature film, though.
I tend to be uncomfortable with raunchy/outrageous humor like this, yet I also laugh at it. So if/when the feature film happens, you can expect an ambivalent review with some political reservations. I'll try my best not to write a full-on feminist analysis though.
All in all, a fun film, and I hope to see more of this in the future. Go see it, you've never seen James his raunchy!
Shannon Hale