Me and Sue for this one, and a drizzly night at the Hyde Park! I'd just come from watching the last half hour of The African Queen, and this really was the other end of the spectrum, in terms of cinematography (AQ was filmed in Africa) and budget, and expected bums on seats, and everything really! At 71 minutes the narrative still struggled, this was a flimsy tale indeed, almost no plot, Scor-Zay-Zee, American style burger kid with baseball hat and would be rapper gets a break into the potential big time due to a lads lad, Le Donk, friend of the Arctic Monkeys, embarrassment to many, and charming to a few. A sub text was that Le Donk's estranged missus was about to give birth, and we had the additional context of the film crew being part of the film, hence a 'mockumentary'. So was it funny? Actually yes, the ego of Le Donk (Paddy Constantine) and the charm that lay beneath did cause a few chuckles, and the final performance at the gig was a good conclusion to the tale, but this was a tv hour long special at the most, and I don't really think it should have got a cinematic release. Cinema goers expect a little bit more quite frankly. What this needed was a bigger entourage of characters and a better storyline and more pathos, and more humour. Its ok being realistic, but Shane Meadows is no longer a newcomer to movies, 'This is England' is an excellent effort, but he needs to progress from it. The good news is he is excellent at characterisation, but I think he badly needs to join forces with a writer who can substantiate his movies with a storyline the audience can get their teeth into. Ken Loach perhaps? 5/10

I tend to agree with Frankie's comments. I went along not sure whether I would enjoy the offbeat humour and video camera type of filming, but it had its moments! It maybe my age, but some of the sound seemed muffled, or perhaps like my teenage son, Le Donk just mumbled. Either way I missed some bits!
For me, Le Donk was was the only saving grace of the film as he was quite a likeable character and someone with whom I felt some empathy. It also helped that I found him very good looking!
Glad it was only 71 minutes though! 4/10

missed it! due to not being aware of date change - am now viewing on Thus with my son, so will report after. Although, Sue's comments "some of the sound seemed muffled" has put me off somewhat! but redeemed slightly by the good looking bit!

I'm still tracking The Big River Man - which is now showing outside London, although sparsely - I will post info the minute it arrives locally

Soz Julie! Don't expect too much from Le Donk et al and you'll get something from it for sure. Definitely think it should have gone 'straight to tv' though.