Discussion
Money
Sunday 23 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 & HD
1/2
The 1980s season continues with a loving two-part take on one of the decade's defining novels, Martin Amis's fable of excess and disintegration. Nick Frost plays antihero John Self, the bloated London ad man angling for a career as a Hollywood film-maker with the help of a smooth New York producer (Vincent Kartheiser). As the pair try to accommodate the demands of their ideal cast (including an ageing action hero inspired, according to Amis, by Kirk Douglas), Self's life dramatically falls apart. Fuelled by his love of scotch, porn and junk food, he stumbles through a series of comic humiliations. Or they should be comic: the comedy never quite fires up, but this still does a fine job of drawing us into its cartoon 80s world of shiny surfaces and woozy self-indulgence. To begin with, the story feels as shambling as its hero, but it's well worth sticking around for Frost's oddly winning performance, some nice cameos, and the unnerving twists in Wednesday night's conclusion.
Radio Times reviewer - David Butcher
Anyone watching? It's looking promising.........
Sunday 23 May
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC2 & HD
1/2
The 1980s season continues with a loving two-part take on one of the decade's defining novels, Martin Amis's fable of excess and disintegration. Nick Frost plays antihero John Self, the bloated London ad man angling for a career as a Hollywood film-maker with the help of a smooth New York producer (Vincent Kartheiser). As the pair try to accommodate the demands of their ideal cast (including an ageing action hero inspired, according to Amis, by Kirk Douglas), Self's life dramatically falls apart. Fuelled by his love of scotch, porn and junk food, he stumbles through a series of comic humiliations. Or they should be comic: the comedy never quite fires up, but this still does a fine job of drawing us into its cartoon 80s world of shiny surfaces and woozy self-indulgence. To begin with, the story feels as shambling as its hero, but it's well worth sticking around for Frost's oddly winning performance, some nice cameos, and the unnerving twists in Wednesday night's conclusion.
Radio Times reviewer - David Butcher
Anyone watching? It's looking promising.........
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