Bunny and the Bull (2009)

A young shut-in takes an imaginary road trip inside his apartment, based on mementos and memories of a European trek from years before.

Director:

Paul King

Writer:

Paul King (screenplay)

Stars:

Edward Hogg, Simon Farnaby, Verónica Echegui

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Edward Hogg	...	Stephen
Simon Farnaby	...	Bunny
Verónica Echegui	...	Eloisa
Richard Ayoade	...	Museum Curator
Julian Barratt	...	Atilla
Noel Fielding	...	Javier
Sylvia Syms	...	Hotelier
James Fox	...	Narrator
Rich Fulcher	...	Captain Crab (voice)
Gus Brown	...	Horse Race Commentator
Madeleine Worrall	...	Melanie
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stephen Foster-hunt	...	Fairground worker

Storyline

Stephen has agoraphobia and, in the flat he won't leave, meticulously labels and stores everything from nail clippings to urine. In long flashbacks we see a trip to the continent he took with his only friend Bunny, an outgoing, inveterate gambler. The European trip is a bit dull (Stephen wants to visit every museum imaginable) until one night in Poland they meet Eloisa, a Spanish waitress, and offer to drive her home for her city's fiesta. We can guess that the trip won't end well - because Stephen is now stuck in his flat with occasional visits from Bunny - but will anything in the reverie move Stephen to action?

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Plot Keywords:

fiesta | gambler | poland | agoraphobia | restaurant | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 November 2009 (UK)

Also Known As:

Petit Trip Entre Amis

Filming Locations:

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warp X, Screen Yorkshire

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

(at around 1 min) When they go to the hotel and an old woman opens the door, she wears a jacket with one collar. There is a brooch on it, but when they have gone in, the woman's jacket has changed to another one with two collars. The brooch is on the upper collar and smaller.

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Quotes

Narrator: For some time now, Stephen Turnbull has been a man of routine. Every day he showers for twenty seven minutes, brushes for four, gargles for eight and flosses for seven. He then files the floss, stacks his urine and notes its PH. Next he washes everything that has so far touched his body, completes a 200-page book of bumper crosswords and watches eight episodes of Ray Mears' Extreme Survival on videotape. Then it's time for lunch.

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Connections

Featured in Live from Studio Five: Episode #1.57 (2009)

User Reviews

Visually stunning, surreal, comedy, drama

Bunny and the Bull starts with the lead character Stephen a Paranoid Neurotic living a hermit like existence. What could have happened to him to make him this way, well through a series of flash backs from a road trip with his mate Bunny a year earlier we are about to find out.

Let me start by saying this film is Visually brilliant, it uses so many idea's and creativity to set the scene in a surreal imaginary way for me this was the best feature of this film and credit is due to everyone involved on this front.

Edward Hogg plays Stephen who does a good job of creating his paranoid character and is always believable. Te film centres around the whole buddy premise, in this case the comedy double act of the straight v's funny guy e.g Morecambe and Wise

Stephens friend is Bunny played by Simon Farnaby, he is supposed to be the lovable idiot and supposed to provide the laugh's.

The other main character is Eloisa played by Veronica Echegui who supply's the love interest and creates the antagonist between the two friends.

The supporting cast was very good and a notable performance from Julian Barret as Atilla and Noel Fielding has a small part as Matador Javier. These are the people that supply the laughs because what could have been a good comedy role in Bunny turned into a stomach turning weak wooden embarrassment. This is where the whole film falls down, without a strong Bunny performance the whole thing falls flat. Dude i don't know if it was the writing or dude i don't know if it was just the performance but dude the character didn't become the lovable idiot he became the annoying idiot that said dude too much plus he looked like Patrick Swayze with a blonde afro. Now considering Bunny was in most scenes it left the whole thing falling flat and lacking in laugh's. Verónica Echegui had some of the funniest moments and she certainly understands comic delivery but was also given funnier lines. She was a character that I liked a lot but sadly this wasn't about her. The problem with something like this is you need to care about the friendship and they did try and use all the tricks in the book, there was even a few Frodo/Samwise moments in there. If you are going to make a film that isn't plot driven or story driven then you need that friendship to carry the film and in this case it failed. There were also attempt at cheap laughs in the form of crude visual gags that maybe a 12 yr old would find funny but come on guys I expect better. Overall I wasn't totally disappointed but maybe a little let down as this could have been better either with better writing and dialogue or just a better Bunny, i mean dude !!! It was a visual treat with some amazing concepts let down by a weak supporting role which was the catalyst for the film. 5/10