Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Comfort and Joy (1984)
Director: Bill Forsyth
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
When his girl-friend walks out on him, Alan 'Dicky' Bird (Paterson) grits his teeth and plugs away at his sugar-coated job as a DJ on a Glasgow local radio station. Then by a highly unlikely quirk of fate he finds himself mediating in an ice-cream war between Mr McCool and Mr Bunny, both of them branches of the Scotia Nostra. But while Paterson regains his self-esteem through the injection of seriousness into his life, the film is damaged for the same reason: Forsyth stamps too firmly on the comedy which was his forte, while being apparently too nice to believe that the mafia are anything other than high-spirited boys. The result doesn't go far enough in either direction. Other people make comedy thrillers; this is a whimsical mild-surpriser. CPea.Author: CPea
Cast & crew
Director: Bill Forsyth
Producer: Davina Belling, Clive Parsons
Cast: Bill Paterson, Eleanor David, CP Grogan, Alex Norton, Patrick Malahide, Rikki Fulton full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 106 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'
Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'
We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
London Children's Film Festival
Read our exclusive reviews of films playing at the 2009 London Children’s Film Festival
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Michael Haneke discusses 'The White Ribbon'
Dave Calhoun met with Michael Haneke in Munich to mull over the details of his Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations












What do you think?
Post your review now