Fisherman's Friends

Fisherman's Friends
Cert: 12A / 112 mins / Dir. Chris Foggin / Trailer



"We've got Tribute, Proper Job and guest ale Bishop's Finger" snarks Maggie Steed from behind the bar in a short but notable scene from Fisherman's Friends. "Wow!" the out-of-towner Danny manages not to reply, "you're so quirky and out-of-the-way down here in The Cornwall that the only draughts you carry are ones available in literally any supermarket throughout the UK. Well done, you! I'm glad I came!"*¹.

So, in this 'and finally' news item spun out for two hours, brassy London-type A&R man Danny (Daniel Mays)*² comes on a stag weekend to Port Isaac in Cornwall with his similarly lary colleagues, only to be charged with signing a local a capella sea-shanty group as part of an unwitting bet. Essentially trapped in the sleepy village, Danny slowly falls in love with the place, with the locals and begins to find himself as a result. And now more than ever he's convinced that the world needs to hear the voices of the Fisherman's Friends...

BRASSY

Yes, this is Calendar Girls in a different tin. It's The Full Monty. It's Brassed Off, it's Eddie The Eagle, Up'n'Under, and Walk Like A Panther. You've seen Fisherman's Friends about a dozen times before, but that's okay. The music is solid, the scenery is gorgeous and the cast keep the whole thing coasting along on charm (just about). Unlike the other music-based offering at my local this week, Fisherman's Friends doesn't feel the need to over-egg its drama or even its transparent tweeness. Ultimately, the easygoing nature of the film is its saving grace. Oh, this also isn't a million miles away from Saving Grace.

It's a large cast considering we only focus on a small central group of characters. The singing group comprises James Purefoy, David Hayman, Dave Johns, Sam Swainsbury and the six members who get no significant speaking lines. Mays and Purefoy are solid although you can tell this is no stretch for either of them. Tuppence Middleton shines as Alwyn, 'the girl one' and love interest, but again that wouldn't be hard in a role as televisual as this. And it's confirmation (as if that were needed), that as well as somehow not being able to consistently do his own regional accent, Dave Johns definitely hasn't got a hope of mastering any other areas of the country either.

GASTRICY

Fisherman's Friends is more proof than ever that as a society, we need fiction. Because if this twee, cliched, feelgood movie is the 'true story' it claims to be, then the art/life snake has eaten its own tail and reality has run out of ideas*³. Very mechanically constructed although never less than watchable, it feels like a piece made to illustrate a Film Studies lecture on basic story structure, character introduction and editing techniques.

And I still rather enjoyed it.

Apart from anything else, what kind of monumental twat organises a stag weekend in a village which only has one pub?

I think we've covered that already.



If you're in the market for that sort of thing.



It is.



Let's not get carried away.



Possibly, but I doubt it'll be a heated conversation.



There isn't.



Level 1: Tivik's in this.





*¹ We get a brief respite from yokel-baiting when the story goes to London and confects outrage at £53 for a round of ten pints of bitter in Shoreditch. Firstly, that's not bad for London (especially poncey Shoreditch). And secondly, mate I've been to Cornwall recently and you're not that fucking far behind... ^{[ BACK ]}

*² Right really though, Daniel Mays plays a character called Danny in this and he plays a character called Danny in BBC1's Line Of Duty and in NCS Manhunt. I'd thought it was either coincidence or contractual stipulation until I noticed that veteran character actress Maggie Steed's character in Fisherman's Friends is called Maggie, then I realised it's just make-it-up-on-the-day laziness. ^{[ BACK ]}

*³ And for a tale set in a remote Cornish fishing village, there's not a mention of Old Gregg. Outrageous. ^{[ BACK ]}


DISCLAIMERS:
• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
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