I rewatched the whole of Ted Lasso recently, which brought all those feels rushing back. When I finished the series again, I was itching for more, especially from Brett Goldstein. I decided to check about this superhero mockumentary rom-com he wrote and starred in. Loved it.
Bob Kenner, an awkward postman from South London, is the world’s only superhero. He got his powers when a meteor struck Earth, and now he saves lives while punching in and out for the Ministry of Defense. When a U.S. senator starts agitating about Bob being a dangerous weapon, his boss Theresa commissions a documentary to show the public he’s just a regular guy. The camera crew follows him around Peckham for a day in the life of a superhero.
In terms of the superhero media landscape, this would’ve come out the same year as Age of Ultron and Ant-Man, and Civil War followed a year later. At any rate, people weren’t constantly talking about “superhero fatigue” back then, and there was space to make an amusingly low-budget superhero comedy.
The film displays Goldstein’s savvy in balancing multiple genres. He has a clear understanding of how superhero films, mockumentaries, and rom-coms all work, and he blends the three in interesting ways. At first, the film feels like it’s going to be entertaining but a little flimsy, but over the course of its short run-time it shows off its heart and demonstrates some keener insight into the themes it’s playing around with.
At the center of everything, of course, we have Bob himself. Goldstein is an awkward delight in the lead role, even if the cringe humor gets a bit overwhelming for me at times. Bob is an unlikely leading man, for both a superhero film and a rom-com. The documentary reveals that he hasn’t lost his down-to-earth good nature or his nebbish timidness. He cheerily shows the camera crew around his neighborhood, then gets roped into standing in line to collect a package for one of his neighbors. He’s befuddled by having received bills from two different gas companies and realizes he doesn’t know which one is actually his. He’s thrilled to be going on his first date since his pre-superhero days, and he has no idea that she spent the first six months of their acquaintance pointedly waiting for him to ask her out before giving up and doing it herself.
Bob is a caring, well-meaning guy, but he can come on either too strong or not strongly enough. He’s good at saving people who are in trouble, but he’s staggeringly bad at social interactions where he has to think on his feet. Bureaucracy and red tape hves been holding him back, not just from doing everything he wants to do as a hero, but from being who he wants to be as a person. A big theme of the film is him learning to stand up for that.
Side note: there’s one scene where Bob blurts out a couple really sexist lines. As with a lot of his why am I still talking??? moments, it starts with him being really flustered and just gets worse as he tries to dig himself out of it. But understandably, these lines are still very hurtful to the character they’re directed at, and I wanted to mention it.
Catherine Tate does a nice, fairly understated job as Theresa. It’s evident that she cares about Bob and likes him, even as he can be a rather exasperating asset to handle and she’s dictating most of what he does. I really like Bob’s cleaner Dorris, played by Natalia Tena (Osha from Game of Thrones.) While her characterization definitely leans into “sexy Latina” tropes at time, we also see how smart, assertive, and compassionate she is. I didn’t recognize Laura Haddock, who plays Bob’s date June, but IMDb tells me she was Peter’s mom in Guardians of the Galaxy. The film also features David Harewood (J’onn Jonzz!) as a news anchor who pops up throughout the story.
Warnings
Language (including sexist insults,) a bit of violence, and thematic elements.
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