STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Kenneth (Adam Deacon) likes to try and play the big man, but his front usually gets dashed pretty quickly. Unable even to hold down a simple job at a super-market (Laimsbury's!), he takes abuse from his mouthy mum who's fallen behind with payments and having trouble from the bailiffs, and has to duck and cover from the hyper hard man on the estate who's out to put him down. Until a chance encounter dealing some stolen weed brightens his prospects a bit, as well as making a new friend in a Spanish relation of his uncle's. But it's all building up to go wrong, leading Ken to a final showdown that will test his will as a man.
Kidulthood and Adulthood have become cult films of their time, high-lighting the modern 'urban street culture' a lot of the modern youth follow, in particular the fashion sense and slang. So Adam Deacon, star of both films, is in a good position to make a film sending them up. Which is why it's so surprising the result is such an amateurish effort, that fails where something like Ali G Indahouse worked. Both of Noel Clarke's sink estate dramas aimed to pull no punches and dive into the unflinching underclass of 21st century Britain. This meant that, while good films in themselves, they were mostly quite downbeat, grim viewing. So it was welcome that the next 'hood' effort would be a more light hearted affair. Sadly, you can see most of the jokes coming a mile off, and too much of it feels forced and over the top, with inconsistent characters, including a villain like Wesley Snipes from Demolition Man on steroids, and some random, pointless characters being introduced and then never heard from again. That's not to mention most of the dialogue being spat out so ridiculously loud and fast you'd do well to pack some Alka Seltzer on your trip to see it. A disappointing mess. **
