Dad’s Army

(spoiler free)

With a poor start for comedy in 2015 with only ‘Dirty Grandpa’ and ‘Ride Along 2’ attempting to tickle funny bones audiences are still waiting for the first hilarious comedy of the year. I’ve never seen the TV series ‘Dad’s Army’ so I really had no prior knowledge about this material before seeing the movie. I’m interested in most things that come out but the cast here particularly grabbed my attention. I thought if nothing else that this would be an enjoyable way to pass 100 minutes.

Enjoyable is a pretty accurate way to describe this movie, nothing more and nothing less. The humour unsurprisingly is quite old fashioned so naturally some of the gags felt dated and unfunny. However these were probably quite faithful to the style of comedy featured in the TV series. There are some laughs to be had here, but they are chuckles more than massive belly laughs. Most of these moments come from some sections of the script and a few slapstick elements. Even if the film doesn’t always make you laugh out loud it’s amusing enough to keep the viewers attention throughout. Thankfully the drama is kept to a minimum and the audience are treated maturely as elements of the narrative that could have been kept from the audience are revealed early on as the writers clearly knew that viewers would be able to piece together the predictable plot devices. 

The cast that I’d mentioned early on features a mass ensemble of actors and actresses, young and old. Some of the more well known names starring in ‘Dad’s Army’ are Bill Nighy, Toby Jones, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Gambon. Amongst many other very well known names there were a few younger and more up and coming actors and actresses including Emily Atack, Blake Harrison and Daniel Mays. The entire cast are very likeable and they play their roles well, easily combining together to create a sense of fun on screen, even if some of the character traits did become a little tiresome. The film marches along at a good enough pace thanks to the cast and the amusing elements to it but it never becomes anything more than enjoyable.

Nonetheless I’d have to say that ‘Dad’s Army’ is the best comedy I’ve seen so far this year. ‘Goosebumps’ was certainly funnier but it had other elements such as adventure, fantasy and horror (depending on your age) going for it. So in terms of comedy genre by itself ‘Dad’s Army’ has surpassed the other efforts mentioned at the start of the review, however that wouldn’t have been much of a task. There was certainly room for improvement here and I’m still waiting for the all out comedy which will have me splitting my sides. All the same though ‘Dad’s Army’ is harmless fun which should be easily enjoyed.

Rating – 6/10

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