People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan

Personally I was happy just to see the characters again. I watched with an almost continuous smile and was vaguely aware of the unlikeliness of the plot, but the constant Lols from a 3/4 full cinema made the silly aspects easily forgivable. 108.9 out of 10.

I have never seen the TV show but went on the strength of the adverts thinking it would probably be poor but I would take a chance.

I was very wrong, the film is very funny in places and well worth a watch. It never takes itself seriously and the laughs keep coming.

Good British humour and I am now going to find the series to watch.

PJDN is the best TV comedy of the last decade.

It's incredibly difficult to transition a show to the big screen and I thought they did a really good job of it. Having seen it now it makes sense WHY they did another chapter as a movie.

Some have said they were just happy to see them again and I think that sentiment is really on point. Having another chapter and having it being bold enough to add what they did should be commended.

I really dislike 'purists' for TV shows who will try and show they are the real fan or something by saying that it was only good in the beginning.

It must be very difficult to keep things fresh and move things along. That can't be done by just staying the same, and so do you want more than the first series or would you rather repeatedly watch the first minute of the first episode?

I was sceptical about the attempt at a film but was never going to just bash what they tried. I expected a certain amount of enjoyment from it whatever it was like and I got that. It could definitely have been worse.

I laughed quite a lot, and was never bored as the story flowed.

I wasn't disappointed by the ending and them not performing at the concert. It was GOOD that Grindah doesn't sell-out, and that they eventually keep it real by simply performing the track among themselves together and happily.

They went on a journey (not just literally) and ended up who they really are.

Chabuddy was not quite right in it and his usually hilarious character didn't quite work for me and it felt like he had become a bit of a caricature.

I am not criticising though as obviously he had to be in it and it had to be ridiculous that he was there with no actual purpose. I get it, but it's where the film does suffer a bit.

Overall a worthy addition and just nice to have had something more that could never be accused of being the same thing as the series all over again.

Some fans will definitely love it and that means it's a success, some will be purists and hate it but who cares, and others will have a balanced perspective and ultimately appreciate it regardless of any flaws to nitpick in either the concept or the content.

It's brave that such a relatively niche UK TV show should have a go at 'jumping the shark' onto the big screen. Would fans like it? And, just as importantly, would newcomers to the characters, like me, be able to enjoy the film as a standalone entity? The answer to the last question is a qualified "yes".

Positives:

• It well-surpasses the "6 laugh test" for a comedy. There are some scenes that I found extremely funny, with others that rated highly for me on the David Brent / Alan Partridge scale of cringiness.

• I've seen comment that the story is "silly" and "unbelievable". But having experienced the crazy clash between English and Japanese culture first hand, it strikes me as very true to form! The way in which the Japanese music execs try to stylise the ground as a 'boy band' ("Bang Boys"!), which Grindah greedily goes along with, is a nice satire on the music industry asserting its brand over musician's art.

• A subplot of a love story between the inept Steves and the cute Japanese translator Ishika (Ayumi Itô) is nicely done and strangely touching.

• The good news is that you don't need any previous experience of the characters to get fun out of the movie: you can jump right in. That being said though, I'm sure fans of the series will get more out of this than I did.

Negatives:

• While the ending was uplifting, I was itching to know what fallout (or success?) there was from the event we witnessed. Perhaps if its a box office success (unlikely I think!) then there will be a sequel.

Summary Thoughts on "People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan": IMDB is littered with disastrous reviews of British TV shows that have tried and failed to make the leap from the small screen to the big screen. "On the Buses"; "Are You Being Served?"; "Steptoe and Son"; "Please Sir"; "Love Thy Neighbour" - the list is endless. They are mostly all horribly unfunny. Even the great "Morecambe and Wise", although showing occasional moments of brilliance, struggled to fully land any of their three big-screen outings.

The 'go-to' of many of these efforts was to "go abroad": take the well-loved characters and put them into a 'bigger' and stranger pool. So "People Just Do Nothing: Big in Japan" was following a well-trodden path here. It's a tribute to the team and their TV-series director Jack Clough, in his feature debut, that they pretty much pull it off.

I'd like to agree with Kevin Maher of "The Times" that the movie is full of "Japanese stereotypes... drunken businessmen, passive giggling women etc". But having travelled extensively on business in Japan, it seems pretty close to the mark with its observations to me! More importantly, the film never seems to be particularly derogatory or disrespectful of the culture. For example, they take their shoes off too much!

Key to its box office success will be whether or not it can attract an audience outside of its niche TV fan-bases. As a member of that sub-group, I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this one, but I actually did. It was good fun, and if you want a good laugh at the cinema - a pretty rare thing - then I'd recommend this one, even if - like me - you haven't seen the original TV show.

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It's about time that a series translated to a movie very very well, if you like the series you will definitely like the movie. It's a classic beginning, middle an end (un-original) but the way the movie is composed is very original. This is not a movie To watch if you want to be kept guessing until the end. But the way the movie takes you on a journey will keep you guessing. After watching this I sat back and the first thing I thought of was that was crazy. Also a few laugh out loud moments. The stayed true to the series very well. Not going to be in your top movies of all time but will certainly be a movie that you can watch and not feel like you've saved your time. Hopefully there will be a number 2.