Black Books - one of the best comedies no one's ever seen? (Black Books (2000))

Member Name: Neenawneenaw

Product:	Black Books (2000)
Date:	02/12/08 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fab cast, fantastic black humour

Disadvantages: Not a 'nice' comedy

Who would have thought a programme about a misanthropic, alcoholic book shop owner could be so funny? OK, so it's not exactly funny in a light-hearted milk-of-human kindness way - but it manages to be clever, daft, hilarious and downright weird in this program's dark dark heart.

The acerbic Dylan Moran plays the aforementioned Bernard Black with pretty relentlessly nasty humour. Yet he still manages to be likeable enough for you to care about him - mainly because so many of his pet hates are all our pet hates. His sour personality is perfectly balanced by the blindly optimistic Manny, played by the brilliant Bill Bailey. Fran (Tamsin Greig - also great) who owns the random tut shop next door brokers between the two by actually being nice to Manny but also almost as keen as Bernard on a glass of wine or six.

Some episodes revolve round the blowing up of a tiny incident into a ridiculously, gloriously convoluted big deal - but you get the feeling the writers know what they're doing and they're doing it on purpose.
There are some great guest appearances from the likes of Simon Pegg and Peter Serafinawicz too.

So how come the only people I know who've seen it are the ones I've badgered into watching it? Because once they have seen it they all love it!

Summary: Comedy with a heart of darkness