Is Harry on the Boat? (2001)

A different way of telling a story

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema 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.

This comedy, based on the book by Colin Butts, follows the adventures of a group of holiday reps from a 18-30 like club during one season in Ibiza. Very much of its time, the film stays true to the book with an abundance of sex and drugs. Although the film is carried by the likable nature of most of the characters and some humorous situations with some unusual plot twists, it ultimately ends up being a boy meets girl true love is better than free sex story. Indeed one of the criticisms is that the ending is a little rushed and thus unsatisfactory. While it does make for compelling viewing and is quite amusing, in essence it is an update version of the successful 60's carry on films but given a modern twist.

Whilst I can;t pretend to have experienced many of the things in the storyline, Sex, drugs, flirting, relationships, revenge, sun, alcohol etc. I can relate to some and appreciate that the others are good representations of the sorts of things that can happen.I found the feature length production to be greatly entertaining and full of well acted scenarios creating a good sense of what it could be like to have a lucky lifestyle of a young holiday rep.The only fault I could give is that they only made a one off, based on the book. there was so much scope for at least a mini series of say 6 one hour follow up stories.Nice scenery, nice bodies, fun story. Great location.

When I saw the ad for this on TV I was expecting another silly Sky One show about Brits in Ibiza but what I got was a really funny and entertaining 2 hours! It was a great show and I would imagine it to be realistic in terms of what those holiday reps get up to when they're supposed to be working. The characters were really good from the poncy loverboy Mario to the good hearted Brad and they were characters that you cared about and were interested in how things would turn out for them. I thought this was going to be a weekly series so I'm a bit disappointed that it was only a once off but I won't complain as it was the best bit of TV I've seen in a while!

I had read the book and that was a good read. The film had the usual cast you'd expect, a mixture from Human traffic, Hollyoaks, Eastenders and Ralph Little made a cameo. It didn't really translate to film that well, as it didn't explain the characters and their relationships enough. However it was shot well, in a kinda quirky style not too original though. In summary watch it for a laugh but the book is a lot less superficial.