Crying with Laughter (2009)

Touches You

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I have to disagree with graham 525's review. The film was, and was supposed to look like a low budget movie. Personally, I think this approach was honest and gritty. If you want glamour, watch Hollywood! The script was down to earth - like the filming, it tried to give a sense of realism, as if you were watching someone's video diaries.The acting was good and the character Frank was totally convincing. Albeit he came across as strange for the most part of the film but strange was the correct approach. This guy, as it turned out, had a terrible past and had also spent his adult life in the forces, so had no doubt seen a lot of terrible things and been through a lot. It will come clear in the end.The ending is not daft at all. The daughter is kidnapped in an attempt to bring Joey to the final destination. I also believe Frank blames Joey for some of his later suffering and looks to expose Joey's young daughter to the horror that he has been through in the school.A good "night in" film, with good locations, with good "honest, non-Hollywood" acting.

The over all impression I had of Crying With Laughter was that of a film student or amateur film maker being let loose with a professional film crew and not really knowing what to do with it. The script wasn't great and the plot that unfolded down right silly. Low budget film makers always seem to feel the need to have a shocking element to their story as if this makes it intrinsically good drama and an obligatory climatic scene where all is revealed. It actually started off reasonably well with a solid enough character, the stand up comedian Joey Frisk played by Stephen MacCole. He's a bit clichéd but a decent script could have built around him and his relationship with his family. Instead a totally unconvincing character called Frank starts hanging around trying to get him to attend a school reunion. Frank apparently beats up Joey's landlord and then claims to be a witness to Joey doing it and identifies him in a police line up. It's such a severe attack that Joey is facing the possibility of many years in prison. Frank then pretends to be a friend to Joey offering him a place to live and even an alibi. Anyway a very silly plot unfolds where Frank kidnaps a former teacher who raped him as a child and as it turns out Joey but to be honest by this point I didn't really care. Frank also kidnaps Joeys daughter for reasons that shall remain a mystery. The ending is a bit daft and there is absolutely no resolution as to what will happen to any of the characters concerning the assault charge or the kidnapping. Not that I was particularly interested in finding out.

A shambolic stand up comic Joey Fisk (a terrific Stephen McCole in a welcome lead role) meets an acquaintance from his school days Frank Archer (an understated Malcolm Shields) whose attentions have a sinister ulterior motive.It's hard enough to do a comedy or a really good thriller with genuine shocks but to combine them both without diminishing either is a real accomplishment from writer/director Justin Molotnikov.It's great to see a whole cast of Scottish faces that are new to the big screen.Here's hoping it gets a good distribution deal.

I am a professional screenwriter, and when I see something brilliant, I find myself thinking, "Gee, I wish I'd written that script." I just saw this at the EIFF and had those exact thoughts. A brilliant script, directed well by the writer, and it looks like his first feature. A gripping tale that is entertaining, funny, and thought provoking. The R rating it will receive is both necessary and appropriate -- even though I'm not a fan of R movies, I am a fan of this one. Great message, to boot, but never heavy handed or on the nose. I hope this gets wide distribution -- it deserves it. Only distraction for me is that the Scots accents are quite strong and may not sit well with American audiences who don't have the ear for it. Perhaps it will need subtitles for that crowd -- hah! Great acting, BTW. A solid, different, great film. yh