Crying With Laughter - DVD - 10/10/10

Funny old world isn't it?

Not if you are stand up comedian Joey Frisk it isn't.

Frisk is making a living and a name for himself trading in the type of comedy that has allowed Frankie Boyle to become notorious...deliberately, wilfully offensive remarks that stop short of being genuinely shocking and stay on the other side of the line, the side of the line occupied in years gone by by the likes of Bernard Manning and Jim Davidson except here the racism is replaced with misogyny and school boy crudity.

On the eve of his becoming a household name thanks to the impending visit of a major American agent Frisk stumbles across an old school "friend", the Northern Soul loving, ex-marine, Frank Archer. From their first encounter it is clear that Frank is bad news but Joey is too wrapped up in himself and his cocaine habit to notice...which is going to cause problems for him later on.

Soon enough Joey finds himself in all sorts of trouble with his wife, his agent, his landlord and the police as Frank begins to manipulate him in order to confront him with a shared secret from their past that Joey has been unaware of thanks, again, to Frank.

This is adult film making from director/writer Justin Molotnikov and he has crafted a believable set of characters in a world that we can all recognise. Dark, twisted and genuinely shocking "Crying With Laughter" also manages that rare trick of having us care about characters who are utterly repellent. Frisk (Stephen McCole) is vile...an arrogant, coke snorting, womanising bastard who is all easily identifiable in the world he inhabits (for proof just spend a few minutes in Edinburghs Pleasance courtyard during the Festival and evesdrop on certain comedians talking) and his redemption in a shocking denouement is all too welcome.