Skeletons Review

"Absurdist comedy" is a description which rarely inspires confidence, probably because it’s so hard to get right. In adapting his series of shorts about two “existential exorcists” who literally remove the skeletons from their clients’ closets, writer/director Nick Whitfield almost pulls it off, aided in no small part by brother Simon’s beautifully integrated, gypsy-flavoured folk music. The leading roles would have suited a well-known TV double act like Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Instead, we get Ed Gaughan and Andrew Buckley (Extras’ thick northerner Gobbler), plus a supporting turn from Isaacs. Their sympathetic performances lend credibility to the unashamedly out-there subject-matter, and if the word “whimsical” doesn’t send you running for the hills, you may find Skeletons as strangely affecting as it is strange.