The Harry Hill Movie

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In this outlandish film version of himself, TV funny man Harry Hill is distraught to find his pet hamster Abu (voiced by Johnny Vegas) is ill, so he takes him to the vets, only to find himself getting chased to Blackpool with his nan (Julie Walters) and Abu, by henchmen of his brother Otto (Matt Lucas) who wants to make him pay for being abandoned with a family of dash hounds.

Although his silly, twisted humour is the kind of thing I tend to warm to, I've never really made much time for Harry Hill, although I was interested to see how he'd perform to a live audience when he toured earlier this year. And, on that same basis, I wondered what a film about him would be like. Lest we forget, he is actually a character as opposed to an actual celebrity, so with ideas running as dry as they are, why not make a 'Harry Hill Film?'

With a plot that's every bit as piecemeal and apathetic as I've made it sound, it falls on Hill's (or, rather, Michael Hall's) shoulders to inject the film with as much of his zany, off the wall antics that his very presence evokes as possible, but while there's maybe the odd little cackle here and there, generally it's an annoying, redundant mess that's really started to wear out it's welcome even after only an hour and a half.

With such as host of respected performers, including Walters, Jim Broadbent and Sheridan Smith, sending themselves up, you'd have thought there might at least be some out-takes at the end to take the edge off it all a little, but it's as if the film feels it's done it's stuff enough by the end and just rolls off with bland end credits. It's a naturally self indulgent piece that's very existence is enough to make the mind boggle, and leaves you in no doubt Hill's forte lies in TV and nowhere else. **