14 Jun 2013

Joe And The Genie ★★★☆☆



Review of 'Joe And The Genie' which can be found here on YouTube.  

Length: 14:11
Written & directed by Kieran Moore
Genre: Comedy
Date: 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A jilted boyfriend thinks a weegie genie can help him win back his true love but that's against the rules of magic, apparently. 

If you can get past the shoddy opening sequence, where a tripod certainly wouldn't have gone amiss (apply that to the entire film btw), this is actually quite good fun. This is typical Scottish humour and the good dialogue reflects that. Sean Howie and Bobby Graham play wish-maker and wish-granter respectively and both get into their roles with gusto and are entertaining to watch. Graham stands out as the more comedic but then, he does have the better lines. These two work good together on screen and the Glaswegian banter flows well between them. The terrible sound recording and constant wind blowing into the mic is compensated by the fact all the actors seem to be shouting out their lines. 

Music is used to great effect too, the fantasy jingle works especially well and the music quality helps counteract the bad audio. The exception being that rotten introduction, where no music is used and it's so quiet you can practically hear the camera recording. Visual effects are cheesy but work surprisingly well within this piece where the nice camera quality and vibrant colours help lift this out of the usual drab and dull colour scheme that Scotland often has to offer. The edit is competent enough to keep a good pace as well as accentuating some of the comedic moments. 

With clear attention to structure, good use of the rule of three, and a well defined arc, the work put into writing the script means that all the technical difficulties and not so great camera work are quite forgivable, showing that if your story's good enough, you can get away with a lower level of production no problem. The ending is corny as hell and could maybe have done with more of a comedic punchline, but overall, this isn't as bad as you think. 

Best Bit: Good dialogue and story. 

Worst Bit: That opening sequence isn't a good start for the film.

Final thought: Look at the state of that white van parked next door to the girlfriend. Bringing house values down immediately. 

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

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