Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie

Yes, the doll review is coming just having some issues with the camera - again - so it'll take a little longer than I had originally planned. But yesterday, myself and the Mum went to see Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie, so I thought I'd talk about that a little. Before we start though, I should explain a couple of things:

1. While there is humour based on the fact that the titular Mrs Brown is played by a man in drag - referring here to the theatrical act - more of the humour comes from the interactions of the family
2. The show, or live stage play, usually works best in front of a live audience
3. Mrs Brown is based off writer and performer Brenden O'Carroll's real mother. She was a typical Irish Mammy
4. I am 3rd or 4th generation Irish on the Mum's side of the family
5. Mrs Brown's Boys reminds me a lot of the Mum's side of the family - though don't tell her that, she'll deny. 
6. Because of the above two, I do have warm feelings towards the show

Right, now that's out of the way, let's talk about the movie. 

It's not all that great, to be honest.

Here's the thing, the show works and has gained an audience because it keeps itself close to home. Literally, in many cases, all of the episodes take place within the home of Mrs Brown. We spend - maybe - ten minutes in that familiar home in the movie. While this on it's own wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, there's ... other factors. Quick plot run down: Moors Market - a street market in Dublin where Mrs Brown earns her living - is in danger of being shut down. Mrs Brown's stall is the latest to be offered to be bought over and due to an outstanding tax bill, it is likely that Mrs Brown will accept the offer. Due to circumstances beyond her control - namely her friend - that is turned around, and she becomes the spokeswoman for the fight to keep the market going. And then it turns out the bill was paid, and this is a set up and ... then most of the movie takes places in courts. 

Yeah...

The best humour in the movie is when they dip into meta humour. Best example of this is at the very beginning of the movie; when Mrs Brown walks out, sees a sound stage and rips down the backdrop put up, revealing the real street, happily declaring that 'this is the movie', leading into a musical number. The meta humour has always been one of the stronger points of the show, and it would have been better if the movie made more use of this. And yeah, there's a lot I'm not talking about, including the very obvious, very outdated jokes that are used. And considering we're talking about a show in which the main character is a female played by a male, yes, I do mean very outdated.

That's not to say there aren't some good moments. It's just that, well, they're likely only going to come across well to fans of the show. And speaking of fans of the show, myself and the Mum were sitting quietly for most of this movie. That does not happen with an episode of the show. They took the movie away from the home, so they lost the heart of what made the show work; it was about the family. Yes, a movie should strive for a bigger aim, but do so without forgetting what made the show work. They seemed to forget here.

All in all? Not the best movie I've seen this year - that's still Maleficent - and the worst of it is I can't even say it's good for killing an hour and a half. 

Please, Mr O'Carroll. Don't make the sequel about Mr. Wang; he wasn't a funny character. If you make a sequel, focus on the FAMILY. That's what the show's about, after all.