306. I Love My Mum; movie review

I LOVE MY MUM
Cert 15
84 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug misuse

Gosh, it seems as if I have turned into a miserable old git.
Throughout this year I have been hammering out reviews of films which have failed to tickle my funny bone and I am becoming a tad jaded.
And I am afraid I Love My Mum was another case of nearly an hour and a half of being stony-faced.
This is partly because I am fed up of film-makers thinking that crass crudeness and jokes about drugs are much of a giggle.
In other words, Alberto Sciamma's film is just too in-yer-face.
It stars Kierston Wareing and former EastEnders actor Tommy French as a dysfunctional mother and son who somehow find themselves on a cargo ship heading to Morocco.
They then have to find out how they are going to make it back to Blighty with no money and no passports.
So, they prostrate themselves at the British Embassy only to discover that the son is actually French (yep, French is French).
Then then come up with a plan of crossing the Med and somehow making it through Spain and France.
And on they go, drinking, drugging and, in the mum's case, screwing through three countries.
They get into some very wacky escapades with their very survival up for grabs almost daily.
Meanwhile, they manage to offend almost everyone with whom they come into contact.
Wareing's character is feckless, highly-strung and rather dim. French's is simply the latter and is easily exploited.
I would have said their movie was entirely unmemorable but for a 20-minute appearance by former Chelsea player Frank Leboeuf whose timing as a defender was a damn sight better than it is as an actor.
Someone somewhere must be tickled by I Love My Mum. It made me feel a bit sad because it was another indication the comedy is failing in the cinema.

Reasons to watch: Offbeat British comedy
Reasons to avoid: Isn't funny

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? More than 360,000 of British citizens reported passports missing in 2016 – up 13,000 from 2015.

Final word. Alberto Sciamma: "The movie started with an image in my head and a feeling, a very personal feeling about identity. The image was a mum and a son arguing about something utterly trivial, sandwich fillers, cheese in this case - but I could feel the massive consequences ahead, triggered by such a small argument." Britflicks

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