Big Fat Gypsy Gangster: Review

Tom Denton reviews new British comedy film 'Big Fat Gypsy Gangster', which is out now on DVD...

The more culturally-aware amongst you will have noticed that this film's title is what's known in the trade as a 'Level Two Parody'. For those not down with the lingo, that's a parody of something that's already a parody. We've had My Big Fat Greek Wedding, referenced by My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, and now, like a game of Chinese Whispers gone just a little bit more Prince Philip, we're left with Big Fat Gypsy Gangster.

You might think I've gone on about the title a bit too much, but, to me, this epitomises the film. The name Big Fat Gypsy Gangster looks like it's a satirical reference to its Big Fat forebears but, in fact, it just reflects the fact that the central character is big and fat and a gypsy and a gangster. This, I'm afraid to say, is the level of subtlety we're operating at throughout all of the ninety-one minutes. When I tell you that the joke of one character is that he's an anger management therapist who 'ironically' gets angry himself, I think you'll see where I'm coming from.

It's all a bit disappointing really. Ricky Grover, who's written and directed the movie, plays the titular Bulla, a character he's been working with since The 11 O'Clock Show. With this pedigree, and a stellar cast list including Omid Djalili, Steven Berkoff, and Peter Capaldi, you would think that this film could have been something special. From the beginning, the viewer seems to be promised either a spoof of the Guy Ritchie gangster oeuvre, or a Spinal Tap-style mockumentary, and it would have been quite nice if either one of those had been delivered.

Whatever you think of Ritchie's films, they, at least, have something that could be described as a plot. We get about half way through Big Fat Gypsy Gangster before anything approaching a story gets going. As a viewer, my thought process went something like this: "Good, we're meeting some interesting characters... Omid Djalili's character's quite funny... look, that Liverpudlian bloke who pretends to talk to ghosts is in it... and Rufus Hound, I didn't know he was an actor... oh, I see, he's not... never mind, it should be good when they've finished with this preamble and get on with the film... it'll be interesting to see how all these characters fit in... are we getting to the story yet?... OK, another character, good... are we nearly at the story yet?... God, we've still got Tulisa from N Dubz to meet... are we nearly there yet... are we nearly there yet... are we nearly there yet..? etc."

Maybe if the caper had arrived earlier in the film, I might have liked it more, but as it is, I'd sat through far too much footage of cockneys shouting at each other by the time anything approaching drama turned up.

Alternatively, it could have been done in a documentary style. Certainly, at the outset, we meet a camera crew and film-maker, and much of it is shot in a shaky handheld-camera kind of way. The strength of this format is that plot can become secondary to character, and a film can be successful as a series of sketch-like interactions between interesting people without a need for a complex storyline. I think that must have been the intention here, but as all dialogue quickly disintegrated into people screaming at each other, it was just tiresome to listen to. And, anyway, if this is meant to be a documentary, what's a dream sequence doing in it?

So, is this irredeemably awful? It's not great, but there are a couple of points of light. Omid Djalili (pictured) does a great job with what he's been given, as does Laila Morse ('Big Mo off EastEnders', as she's better known). They both manage to give three dimensions to their characters in a fairly two-dimensional setting. And, I think Ricky Grover's character is great and could definitely work in a film, but maybe Grover has overstretched himself by choosing to cut his directorial teeth with Bulla's big-screen debut.

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Image kindly supplied by Demon Lee