I had seen a short film made in under one weekend as part of a challenge and the setting here appears to be the same as the target was to write, film, edit and deliver a short film all in under 48 hours. The difference here is that somehow the short film got Martin Freeman to take part – he of Hitchhikers Guide, Hobbit, Sherlock and other such big deals. So it is instantly an unusual offering to see him sitting in full mime makeup and costume being silently quizzed about some crime he is suspected of.
The story unfolds in a rather one-joke way but it is a decent joke and the film mostly works it pretty well. I will be honest and say it was not as funny as I had hoped it would be and I thought the ending was a bit as a punchline. It does have some nice moments though and I guess you do have to give it credit considering that it was made at a fast pace in a very short period of time. Freeman's delivery helps it a lot and he is funny even though he is ultimately doing a standard mime act – his facial expressions are good although I remain of the opinion that physical comedy is not really his strongest side. It is still amusing and quite a clever idea although considering that and the big name, I would almost have liked them to have taken longer than the 48 hours and strengthen it out in terms of the detail, to be funnier and cleverer.
The story unfolds in a rather one-joke way but it is a decent joke and the film mostly works it pretty well. I will be honest and say it was not as funny as I had hoped it would be and I thought the ending was a bit as a punchline. It does have some nice moments though and I guess you do have to give it credit considering that it was made at a fast pace in a very short period of time. Freeman's delivery helps it a lot and he is funny even though he is ultimately doing a standard mime act – his facial expressions are good although I remain of the opinion that physical comedy is not really his strongest side. It is still amusing and quite a clever idea although considering that and the big name, I would almost have liked them to have taken longer than the 48 hours and strengthen it out in terms of the detail, to be funnier and cleverer.