At the movies: Spuds are a mish-mash

SEX LIVES OF THE POTATO MEN (18)

CRAZY British comedy that's a bit of a Carry On with loads more sex and attitude.

THE STARS: Johnny Vegas, Mackenzie Crook, Mark Gatiss, Dominic Coleman, Julia Davis, Lucy Davis.

THE STORY: It's hidden subtly in the title. This is a film about the sex lives of potato men! Dave (Vegas), Ferris (Crook), Tolly (Coleman) and Jeremy (Gatiss) work at a Birmingham potato distribution warehouse. All are obsessed with women and sex

Dave gets thrown out by his wife, and despite secretly wanting to go home, fantasises (and gets into) threesomes and group sex.

His mate Ferris sees himself as a ladies man, but is living for free with his mother-in-law (who makes "demands" in lieu of rent) and is having sex with the chip shop girl.

Tolly's wife has left him and he seeks solace in chat lines and strange sandwiches (don't go there). Jeremy, the warehouse boss, is stalking his ex-girlfriend Ruth (Lucy Davis of TV's The Office), who dumped him after she found out he wasn't actually a dentist.

There is a lot of drinking, swearing and coupling (in various forms) as the Potato Men confirm - as if we didn't really know it - that blokes (especially after a few drinks) are particularly stupid when it comes to sex. They each end up finding a little bit of happiness in their own odd ways, though there are plenty of gross- out moments along the way.

WHAT'S GOOD? Vegas and Crook are a sleazy dream-team and brilliantly cast as the soft-porn spud men. Vegas's great as sad Dave, whose porn fantasies descend into hilarity as he finds himself 11th in line at a group sex session and more interested in talking about how hard it was to park than to actually take part. Gattis (of The League of Gentlemen) is well cast as a sad stalker, who kidnaps his ex-girlfriend's dog as a way of reaching out to her.

Trivia fact - Adrian Chiles, presenter of BBC2's Working Lunch and Five Live regular crops up wearing just a towel with the screen credit of "Sex Party Host".

WHAT'S BAD? Some are going to brand this movie one of the worst British films for an age, and there is no denying that some of the lines and direction just don't work.

The Tolly character is particularly uninteresting and the truth is you really just want a film about Vegas and Crook.

Writer-director Andy Humphries slips in some great lines (Vegas: "If I wasn't so lazy I'd become a workaholic") but doesn't seem able to construct an overall storyline that works. It feels episodic and a bit clumsy at times.

HOW LONG IS IT? A chipper 82 mins.

FINAL VERDICT? After several pints and a curry it could be the the lads' film of the year. If stone cold sober and watched at 10.30am, maybe not.

Copyright 2004 MGN LTD
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.