We poor old Brits have never been ashamed to demonstrate how embarrassed we are about anything sexual. This is why the farce No Sex Please, We're British - with a plot which centred on unwelcome pornography arriving at a small local bank branch - did so well on stage.
This film adaptation shows its stage origins very clearly - you can hear every line and see every action as if it was taking place on stage. The trouble is that a line which is saucy, cheesy, and seaside postcard-y in terms of double entendre punning may work very well on stage: the audience will seize on it and it will form part of a dialogue between cast and audience, where the audience's huge enjoyment of rude and corny humour delivered with gusto feeds back to the cast who, in turn, devour the audience response and give it back in kind. Then deliver those same lines from a cinema screen - or, worse, a TV screen - and they emerge only to fall flat on their face. This sex face simply does not work as a film.
But it is worth watching for the stellar cast of UK TV talent on show, all working their socks off to no avail.
This film adaptation shows its stage origins very clearly - you can hear every line and see every action as if it was taking place on stage. The trouble is that a line which is saucy, cheesy, and seaside postcard-y in terms of double entendre punning may work very well on stage: the audience will seize on it and it will form part of a dialogue between cast and audience, where the audience's huge enjoyment of rude and corny humour delivered with gusto feeds back to the cast who, in turn, devour the audience response and give it back in kind. Then deliver those same lines from a cinema screen - or, worse, a TV screen - and they emerge only to fall flat on their face. This sex face simply does not work as a film.
But it is worth watching for the stellar cast of UK TV talent on show, all working their socks off to no avail.