I like
the variety of programs you find on British television. In addition to series, miniseries, anthologies,
made-for-TV-movies, and even short-film series (like 10-Minute Tales,) you’ve got works like Micky Love. It’s
basically an hour-long TV movie, the length of a TV episode, but telling a
complete, self-contained story of its own.
I've not really seen its like in U.S. television. I suppose it's something like a long short,
but it's great that the U.K. can provide a venue for it.
Anyway,
the eponymous Micky Love is an aging TV personality who's made a
successful comeback following a disastrous flame-out earlier in his
career. After a series of ups and downs
in his personal and professional life, he's been able to regain a good living
for himself, hosting a silly, popular show on Channel 4 – honestly, I can't
quite figure out what it is. Game show? Talk show?
Variety show? Whatever it is, it
looks ridiculously cheesy. However, a
long chain of office gossip leads Micky to believe his show has been placed on
the chopping block. Let's just say his
resolve not to go gently into that good night has the potential to burn
more bridges than he can afford.
PC
plays David Critchley, one of the network bigwigs. He and a colleague are the ones who
unintentionally set off the rumor mill, and as is wont to happen in something a
bit farcical, he spends much of the resulting hour trying to repair a situation
he doesn't know exists. The studio is
thrown into chaos, no one can get a hold of anyone, Micky's breaking bad in a
big way, and David has no idea that he's one half of the parties responsible.
It's
fine. Nothing too terribly
demanding. David is appropriately
perplexed, frustrated, and frantic, as he should be, but he's not a
particularly important character. In
fact, Micky refers to David and his partner in crime as simply “the other two.”
This
movie is filled with familiar faces. Rik
Mayall does a great job as Micky, and look out for a very young Alan Cumming
and a pre-Pride-and-Prejudice Jennifer Ehle.
There's also a microscopic appearance from Paul Higgins, who played the
fantastically psychotic Jamie in The Thick of It and In the Loop.
Accent
Watch
Sounds
to me like a light Scottish accent.
Recommend?
In
General
– Possibly. I thought it was an
interesting, well-done story with some strong performances.
PC-wise – Not particularly –
not a whole lot for PC to do here.
Warnings
Sexual
references, a fair amount of language, alcohol abuse, and implied (not shown)
nudity.
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