Are Ant and Dec attempting global domination? They’ve been child stars, pop stars, ITV’s most popular hosts, and now — with the help of Shameless and Phoenix Nights director Jonny Campbell — they’ve made this, their enjoyable first feature.
While it’s not as hilarious as you might have hoped, it’s a decent lark that begins as their two characters, Gary and Ray, agree to be interviewed by documentary-maker Morgan Banner (Pullman). He has no idea who they are, but becomes interested as their story about buying genuine alien autopsy footage unfolds, and they tell how they eventually find themselves having to fake an autopsy in Gary’s sister’s living room.
The best scenes, of course, are the ones in which the boys are faking the autopsy with the help of an eclectic bunch of friends — an undertaker, a mannequin-maker (who is dating Ray’s nan), a butcher (who provides the haggis that doubles for an alien brain), and kebab shop owner Melik (Omid Djalili) — it’s like a Morecambe and Wise sketch as Nan interrupts offering biscuits, the clock falls off the wall and Gary panics as blood drops on his sister’s carpet.
It’s too slow in the build-up to the boys’ acquisition of the film, and there’s predictable rivalry between the pair later on, but once this gets going, the laughs are consistent.
