Ioan and Boy (Man And Boy (DVD))

Member Name: al1892

Product:	Man And Boy (DVD)
Date:	20/02/06 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A nice easy film to watch

Disadvantages: None immediately spring to mind

This film is based upon the book by Tony Parsons. I'm afraid I've not read the book so I can't offer you any comparisons between them, sorry. It was made by and shown on the BBC and from experience it is a typical BBC film not dissimilar from 'Jack and Sarah'.

The movie begins with a very nice introduction in my opinion. Certainly a novel way of doing it. It starts with a kind of montage of clips from what would be family videos, eg. birthdays, days out, basically fun and happy times the family have spent together. I felt this was a nice touch as it meant you were a bit closer to the individuals in the film and it gave you a background to them without being boring!

The story
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At the beginning Harry Silver (Ioan Gruffudd) is going through something of an early mid-life crisis, buying fast cars etc. He is working for TV producing a chat show (host - Ian McShane - Lovejoy).

Delighting in his 'talent's eccentricity, things then go wrong when the host starts on one of the guests.

In order to get over what undoubtedly is a very bad day at the office he goes back with his assistant. It takes little imagination to work out where this ends up! In a bit of a corny story Harry's wife Gina (Natasha Little) finds out via a message left on the mobile phone.

Ultimately Gina goes to Japan leaving Pat behind for Harry to look after. Typically he has no idea where to begin and goes to his parents (Jack Shephard, Pauline Collins) for help. With the help of his parents and Star Wars (unhealthy obsession for the pair of them if you ask me!!) he begins to take on the responsibility. With a few hiccups on the way of course!

All the usual story so far.

Trying to feed Pat he meets a problem when all he will eat is green spaghetti. Fortunately the waitress at the cafe in the park (Elizabeth Mitchell) has seen Pat and his mother there before and knows he wants pesto pasta. I know, I know bizarre, but you need to know about the waitress as she becomes a big thing in both their lives.

The story goes back and forth but we all know pretty much where it's heading. Harry has met the waitress and Gina has met Richard - or as Harry likes to call him Dicky dick dick dick (Ioan does immature very well and it is laugh out loud funny).

Eventually it ends up in a custody battle as Gina returns and expects Pat to immediately be returned to her (and Richard). Naturally as Harry has got used to his task so he has warmed to it and does not want to give Pat back.

As all this is going on, Ian McShane leaves Harry to look for a new frontman and Harry's dad grows very ill. Indeed he had been ill for a while but hadn't let on whilst helping Pat learn to ride without stabilisers and doing all the grandad stuff.

An emotional bit of the film is broken by another laugh out loud bit of slapstick humour. It seems wrong to be laughing at this bit but believe me you will!

Additionally there is some tooing and froing with the waitress from the park and her relationship with Harry.

I don't want to say everything that happens in the film as I want you to go and watch it yourself so forgive me if you feel the picture is incomplete.

My thoughts
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This film is quite predictable but some days you don't mind that and if you just want to have a nice easy story with very good acting then this is definitely worth a watch. I picked this up for £4.99 and this seems to be the consensus price as it has been out a while.

I always enjoy the acting of Ioan Gruffudd and I think that once again his acting was perfect here and he gets you to believe his character. I also enjoyed the performance of Elizabeth Mitchell as the American Waitress and the supporting cast such as his parents were very good. It was a pleasant surprise that the boy wasn't sickly sweet or a nightmare but rather played his role quite perfectly and for someone so young I thought he acted very well adding but not intruding on the bigger picture.

The plot itself is quite slim but is padded nicely by the things that go on alongside it and I liked the feeling that you were on the journey with Harry.

Further I enjoyed the fact that there was a good mix of comedy, sadness and trepidation (ie how would he cope, who will win custody etc).

There wasn't really anything I didn't like about this film except that I have a fairly short attention span and the film was a bit long for that! ; )

As I said I would recommend watching this and at £4.99 you can't really go wrong.

The DVD
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There are no extras to speak of just an interactive menu with scene selection. There is no obtrusive music and the picture and general film is of good quality in my opinion.

The editor is Simon Curtis
The film lasts for 1hr 42minutes
Release date- 2002
Widescreen
Certificate 15 - scenes of a sexual nature and a modicum of violence.

Thanks for reading hope it helps. Anything else you want to know just ask : )

Summary: A family orientated film with humour and good story.