Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Sebastian Croft, Emilia Jones, Nick Frost, Craig Roberts, Kate Nash, Kim Cattrall, Derek Jacobi, Rupert Graves, Warwick Davis, Alexander Armstrong, Kevin Bishop, Alex MacQueen, Lee Mack, Chris Addison, Ella Smith, Sanjeev Bhasker, Tony Way, Lucy Montgomery, Tony Gardner, Ben Ashenden, Samantha Spiro, Katy Wix.

Comedy, in the right hands can be a force that bring politicians down and restore a sense of hope to a nation, a single line, a raised eyebrow in the direction of the camera can unite a country more than rhetoric, gavel banging, and tub-thumping can ever hope to achieve. However, there are times when comedy misses the mark, and even if it is by a fraction it somehow finds itself grating, almost forcing the audience to find it funny, a pleading endorsement to which no amount of star turns can hope to save it. It is to the latter that Horrible Histories: The Movie-Rotten Romans unfortunately belongs and one that is bogged down by its own pressure, perhaps its own self-awareness.

It is possible to see the thinking behind the film, even if it is intentionally built for a younger audience, but that doesn’t mean the array of comedic talent on screen should have to be subdued to what could be considered a forcibly conceived attempt to capture a poorly executed version of a Carry On film, one that relies too much on a premise of badly delivered jokes and appeasing a generation that has moved on in a different direction in their humour.

Nobody is advocating a return to the days of Gerald Thomas/Peter Rogers of British comedy but at their height they portrayed an understanding that few have emulated. Even in the early black and white outings, such as Carry on Nurse, Constable and Teacher there was a window opened on the time that caught the mood of the nation and which would see the series hit highs in Carry on Cleo and Screaming, Up The Khyber and to a lesser extent Carry on Cowboy.

It is in the large ensemble, one that has worked well for example in the B.B.C. series Ghosts, that humour, the big joke can survive, it also needs to make the most of actors such as Lee Mack, Sanjeev Bhasker and Katy Wix rather than just relegating them to subjective and meaningless parts.

If Horrible Histories: The Movie-Rotten Romans does succeed anywhere it is in the release of Kim Cattrall into her natural domain of comedy, and working alongside Derek Jacobi and Sanjeev Bhasker brings back memories of earlier films in which her timing made the difference between the film being remembered fondly and sinking without a trace.

There was so much promise to the film, the capturing of a period in British comedy which could have maintained the current flow of enjoyment and insight to be continually sought, but which in the end found a way to be constrained by the lack of the dynamic, and satirical pathos to which all comedy derives. A poor showing overall and one that doesn’t live up to the remarkable efforts that came to fruition in the book series.

Ian D. Hall