The small, unassuming British comedy. It’s often a very hit or miss affair. If there’s no involvement from Richard Curtis, Hugh Grant or Robert Carlyle then you don’t know what you’re in for. The UK has managed to create some wonderful little films (case in point, Being Sold). But then there are too many films like Large (2001). Kill Keith isn’t as bad as the latter but it’s also not as good as the former. Which is a shame, because it starts off so well and has some very good moments here and there.
The story centres on a breakfast TV show called The Crack Of Dawn (hosted by Dawn and Cliff). Marc Pickering plays Danny, a young man in love with Dawn who also wouldn’t mind getting his big break on TV as opposed to just fetching papers and coffees for people. Sadly, it looks like neither dream will ever lead anywhere. As the news is announced that Cliff is leaving the rumour mill shifts into overdrive with regards to just who will replace him. Names include Joe Pasquale, Tony Blackburn and Keith “Cheggers” Chegwin (who would seem to have a head start thanks to his outdoor broadcast work with the show). But someone starts killing off the contenders. Is the job worth dying for? Is it, in fact, worth killing for?
With a twisted premise (there are at least two amusing death scenes to make you chuckle) and the use of some familiar faces to fans of UK television, Kill Keith has the potential to be a bit of a cult hit. The opening 10 or 15 minutes get your hopes up – there are some good gags in there and the aesthetics and bickering of the fictional breakfast show featured in the movie is enjoyably spot on. The cast all do pretty well, which is another plus. Marc Pickering is a bit bland but passable, Susannah Fielding is appealing as Dawn, David Easter (best known to fans of “Family Affairs”) is good at playing someone who is a bit of a git, Simon Phillips provides a few funny moments, Joe Tracini makes for a laughably bizarre “Tony Blackburn” and then we have the real Tony Blackburn working with the other names already mentioned above, all proving to be very good sports.
That’s it though, all the good stuff is right there in that opening section (including a fun little announcement encouraging viewers to wear 2D glasses). Once the movie sets up the premise and places people in position it does nothing more. The script, by Andy Thompson, Pete Benson and Tim Major, has a few decent lines popping up occasionally but is otherwise lacking. It’s just not sharp enough. Heck, if it had even gone for quantity over quality then more laughs may have ensued but, sadly, the writers obviously think that they packed enough in there. Andy Thompson also directs and, again, just gets things set up before moving through the rest of the film on cruise control.
It’s not a horrible film and I don’t want my criticism to seem too harsh because I laughed a couple of times and that’s more than I can say for some comedies that I’ve watched. But I also suspect that those laughs came as much from my own goodwill as they did from the material I was watching.
Kill Keith drags itself onto DVD here in the UK on Monday 26th March and comes with a couple of poor featurettes and a commentary that really ranks among the worst that I’ve ever heard. I’m sorry guys, I don’t mean this in a malicious or purely insulting way – it’s just a fact that the sound mix seems to be all over the place and the chat isn’t exactly scintillating enough to make up for the variable audio. A pretty poor show.
DIRECTOR: ANDY THOMPSON
WRITER: ANDY THOMPSON, PETE BENSON, TIM MAJOR
STARS: MARC PICKERING, SUSANNAH FIELDING, SIMON PHILLIPS, DAVID EASTER, KEITH CHEGWIN, JOE TRACINI, TONY BLACKBURN, JOE PASQUALE, RUSSELL GRANT
RUNTIME: 93 MINS APPROX
COUNTRY: UK
Film Rating: 
DISC Rating:
