204. One Man's Madness; movie review

ONE MAN'S MADNESS
Cert 15
80 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

Madness were my moment in time. I was 16 when The Prince was released and went on to watch them live at Coventry Tiffany's (the home of 2-Tone), Hammersmith Odeon and the NEC.
Many years later, I accompanied a fellow 'nutty boy' to Birmingham and was dancing so feverishly that my phone flew out of my pocket across the auditorium.
Madness are responsible for my dad-dancing style which only looks in rhythm when Night Boat To Cairo is playing.
It was cool to say that The Jam or The Specials were my favourite bands as a teenager but it was really Madness.
And that was probably because, aside of their music, they are were a bit crazy - none more so than saxophonist Lee Thompson.
Jeff Baynes' biopic certainly reflects Thompson's wacky side but also comes up with some tales about the band which kept me, as a fan, entertained throughout.
Unlike the recent movie, narrated by Suggs, this concentrates almost entirely on Thompson's life with the Madness crew.
It chronicles their years as teenagers, then becoming successful when they could barely play their instruments to the finely-honed operation (?) they are now.
I spent must of the 80 minutes with a smile on my face as his relatives and the other band members' parents added their anecdotes about the unpredictable sax player.
But the only think which diluted the tales was that it repeated a few of the yarns I had seen Suggs tell only a couple of months previously.
It did strike me that the release of the two movies, which have merit in their own right, might have been kept wider apart
The Suggs film cut to sketches and animations during the narration of his life story and here Thompson turns heads by never contributing in his own words but, instead dressing up as many of the contributors and lip-synching theirs.
The only exceptions are the band members and whenever they offer pearls of wisdom Thompson is messing around in fancy dress in the background.
This offers evidence that, 40 years on from the founding of one of Britain's favourite bands, he still hasn't lost that naughty nutty boy edge, and for that we love him.

Reasons to watch: If you are a Madness fan
Reasons to avoid: Some might find the mime/dubs a little too crazy

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7.5/10

The big question: How did Lee Thompson get away with being such a scally?

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