APPEALED TO OUR SILLY SENSE OF HUMOUR
Cert TBA
70 mins
BBFC advice: TBA
I was sitting watching Cal McCrystal's Bubonic Play on my ipad on the balcony of our Gran Canaria hotel and I had to stop it twice.
I called over Mrs W and played her scenes which I thought would make her laugh out loud. Her reaction was just as it predicted - she was in fits of giggles.
In fact, there is so much of the physical humour she loves in Bubonic Play, I finished the film, handed over the ipad and let her watch it for herself.
So I apologise to McCrystal... I know I was the only person who was meant to watch the secret internet link but I thought he might enjoy the approval of 'the famous Mrs W' as some have now dubbed her.
Mrs W likes her humour, Naked Gun-style and we both hope McCrystal writes and directs more of this type of material which would have not been out of place in the hands of the great Leslie Nielsen.
Much of McCrystal's work is confined to the theatre and The Bubonic Play is a low-budget adaptation of one production.
He admits that he doesn't have big expectations of audience reaction to it but I can report that it tickled my funny bone more than Mortdecai which had a budget of $60m.
The Bubonic Play is set in medieval times during a plague epidemic and centres on just three characters.
Mathew Baynton plays a wandering minstrel who falls in love with a buxom young wench (Clare Thomson).
The feeling is mutual but the problem is that she is betrothed to a lord (Jamie Glassman) whom she does not love.
An hilarious musical love triangle develops with the deadly backdrop of the plague and the songs of the folk group The Seekers.
In addition, there is a particularly wacky and very politically incorrect Punch and Judy show.
I know The Bubonic Play will not be for everyone and that Mrs W and I have a silly sense of humour but it made us laugh more than most allegedly more refined comedies will do in 2015.
Director Cal McCrystal: "Film is a directors medium so if people don't like it then it's my fault! I have created comedy sequences on quite a few big movies (The Dictator, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The World's End, Paddington) but my real job is as a theatre and circus director so I won't mind too much if it's not hailed as a masterpiece!"
Reasons to watch: If you are into the sort of daft humour that tickles us.
Reasons to avoid: Some may find its silliness banal.
Laughs: Five out loud and a fair few chuckles
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 7/10