PEOPLE JUST DO NOTHING: BIG IN JAPAN

 

It's not always a guaranteed success when a much-loved and successful television show makes the jump to the big screen for a feature length outing. Comedies in particular may find themselves suffering more than any other genre with episodes usually lasting no longer than half an hour, meaning a longer runtime may find them running out of steam by the end. People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan sees the colourful characters from the popular television show venture out of Brentford for one of the first times ever for an eye-opening adventure.

Since the end of their pirate radio station, life has been quiet for the Kurupt FM boys, but everything is about to change. News reaches them that one of their songs has been used on a popular game show in Japan. They've made it. Their music is reaching hundreds of thousands of people. It's finally time for them to enjoy the fame and fortune that they've always known they deserved. Chabuddy G (Asim Chaudhry) steps excitedly back into his management role as Grindah (Allan Mustafa), Beats (Hugo Chegwin), Steves (Steve Stamp) and Decoy (Dan Sylvester) begin their journey to international stardom - But is Japan really ready for Kurupt FM?

In the same way The Inbetweeners did when it made its big screen debut, Big in Japan starts as it means to go on, firing on all cylinders throughout with jokes coming thick and fast. It's what the show was great at so why change that for a cinematic adventure? It's a very funny film too, the gang fumbling their way through a trip to Japan with hilarious consequences that is honestly so great to see. 

These characters went through so much together over five seasons and I have no doubts that fans of the show will love seeing them reuinted on the big screen. As per the show, the writing is done by some of the cast and it works a treat again as they know these characters the best and deliver some proper laugh out loud moments that make you either cringe hard for the characters or cry from laughter.

It's the ensemble cast that brings their A game to proceedings, bringing their respective characters to life with the same quality and energy that graced the show. Allan Mustafa is brilliantly childish as the leader of the pack, MC Grindah, a man who takes all the credit and the ego the size of Brentford. The man who gets a lot of the laughs in the film is Asim Chaudhry as Chabuddy G, the man who sees himself as the supposed manager of Kurupt FM, and Chaudhry doing his utmost to make every single scene he's in memorable.

As of a month ago, I had never seen a single moment of the show. Fast forward to this day and with every episode now watched, People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan solidifies the franchise's place as one of the best British comedies of all time. Not bad company to be in at all.

Verdict: ★★★★