In my quest to find entertainment that entertains, I quite
like to find myself getting surprised by little gems that have gone un-noticed.
Get Duked! (complete with exclamation mark) is one of those little gems. If you
have ever seen the BBC series “Stag”, you will find some similarities with this
little 90 minute Amazon Original, but don’t let that put you off.
Get Duked! (originally titled Boyz in the Wood) focusses on
3 “chavvy” types who have been selected by their school’s headmaster to go on a
“Duke of Edinburgh scheme” outdoors challenge. For those unaware, this is a
scheme created by the Duke of Edinburgh way back, to encourage team work and
community among young people and is still going strong to this day. Mr
Carlilse, their teacher (a great turn by Jonathan Aris whom you may know from
Sherlock and His Dark Materials) takes the group to the Scottish highlands,
where they must find their way to their campsite using team-work, orienteering
and foraging skills. Our group is Samuel Bottomley (Ackley Bridge, The Teacher,
Somewhere Boy) as slightly-more-reasonable Ian, Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy,
Deadwater Fell, T2: Trainspotting) as dim Duncan, Viraj Duneja as wannabe
hip-hop star “DJ Beatroot”, and Rian Gordon as Dean. Whereas Dean, Duncan and
DJ all know each other, Ian is the slightly quieter one who actually WANTS to
be on the expedition.
As our story progresses, the group of 4 find themselves the
target of a gunman in the shape of Eddie Izzard and his equally psychotic wife
played by Georgie Glen. The two have decided that young people these days are
ruining everything and decide they require culling. Clues to this are laid
along the way, including an ominous “missing persons” board where the gang are
dropped off. As our hapless group try to avoid becoming the newest entries on
the board, they find themselves in all sorts of ridiculous scrapes.
As a British comedy about young people there are, of course,
numerous reference to drugs, but again don’t let that put you off. The movie is
downright hilarious, and probably way more funny that I ever though it should
be. The main cast are utterly charming in their roles and their exploration of
friendship is a lovely thing developed throughout the movie. There are some
hilariously bizarre moments, including what the farming community get up to of
an evening, the local coppers trying to find their next big case and some of
the funniest deaths ever put on film (probably). All of this builds up to a
surprisingly satirical, yet thoughtful, finale that will have you thinking even
after the movie has ended.
Our main cast are supported by Izzard and Glen, but there
are also appearance from Game of Thrones stars James Cosmo and Kate Dickie,
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace star Alice Lowe, Sunshine of Leith’s Kevin Guthrie
and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance from Dr Who’s Young Amy Pond Caitlin
Blackwood. Hidden away behind one of the masks is one-time Steve Wilson from
Prisoner Cell Block H himself James Smillie.
It’s been a while since I laughed out loud so much during a
movie that I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It’s very well written, tightly
plotted and with some great directional choices. There are also some very funny
little background details so keep your eyes open!
I was also quite surprised to see one of the producers was
none other than Hollywood Spider-man star Tobey Maguire.
Overall, if you enjoyed movies like “Attack the Block” and
Tv Shows like “The Inbetweeners”, you will find plenty to enjoy in this.
Year: 2019
Availability: at the time of writing, streaming on Amazon
Prime
Rating: 8/10
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