15 Mar 2012

The Morning After The Night Before ★★★☆☆



Review of 'The Morning After The Night Before' which can be found here or on Vimeo.

Length: 05:17
Written by Mark MacNichol and directed by Greg Andrew
Genre: Comedy
Date: 2010
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Logline: A Scots lad seeks revenge on a thieving one night stand.

Here's another urban myth story, Glasgow style. What do you do when you wake up and discover that the lass you brought home last night has done a runner and taken your wallet with her? The only thing any Scot would do. Take a dump in her handbag (which she has mysteriously left behind, ahem).

Barry Ward stars as the jilted weejie and gives a thoroughly believable and naturalistic performance. No holding back on the accent which is always great. Dialogue suits both the actor and the scenario. It follows a standard sketch set up and execution but I doubt anyone will be surprised by the punchline. It remains momentarily entertaining none the less.

This was passable on a small screen but wouldn't work so well on a big one. A familiar problem with low budget shoots is having to make do with a mates bog standard flat. Set design was severely lacking leaving lots of blank space and uninteresting backgrounds to look at. Similarly, the use of natural light, didn't help the matter. A lot of shots suffered with reflective glare and bleaching out of colour. Still, it does emulate piss poor Scottish weather. I loved it when they cut to the miserable sleet on the external shot. Sound is fine bar a dodgy lip sync on Ward's first line and the bit echo from the empty room. Pacing could have been better and could be improved with a harsher edit and shortening of the whole thing. The titles at the beginning were annoyingly long as the end credits were too.

Overall, not bad considering budget restrictions and the expected punchline. Extra point given for authentic steam wafting out of the purse.

Best Bit: When you start looking for your phone after the mobile wakes the guy up.

Worst Bit: Titles take up near a third of the time.

Final thought: What's the point in taking a shite in someones bag before chucking it out with the rubbish?

Read a condensed review of this film on Twitter here.

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