Shannon Matthews the Musical the Movie

I had the privilege of seeing this twice during the premiere weekend and I was blown away. My sides likely need medical attention from laughing so much.

On the surface, the topic is a tough one to tackle, but as a fan of gallows humour being the best way to deal with anything serious I LOVE IT.

The songs are hilarious, the attention to detail in the movie production and sets was absolutely first class, and the cast excelled themselves.

A modern classic in the making, without question. If you read the daily fail or other rightwing rag equivalent , you'll hate it. Write your strongly worded letter to the editor, really do.

Everyone else, go and see this as soon as you can! It's fantastic.

If you've already heard the musical album by KATG, or seen the musical live already, you may wonder, why was a movie version needed? As it turns out, the movie format lends itself superbly for expanding not just the story, but the jokes too. Obviously, the movie follows a rather sensitive subject, but the focus is always the extraordinary lengths Karen Matthews would go to for infamy and cash, unaware she'd surrounded herself with the least useful fiends imaginable.

The subtle and not so subtle references for KATG fans a will entertain most people who watch the film after hearing/seeing the musical. For everyone else, there's always a danger it may be too crude but to make a film that was less blunt or ridiculous would have defeated the whole purpose of making it.

Full disclosure: I am a long term fan of Kunt And The Gang and helped to crowd fund this film. I was also at the recent premiere in Leeds.

With that out of the way - the film far exceeded my expectations (which were already pretty high, having seen and loved the stage show version of it in Edinburgh last year).

The film is very funny, with excellent performances across the board (particularly from director Sam Hindman as Karen Matthews and Rob Kirtley as DI Radgitt). It takes the stage show and adds in lots of extra goodies - green screen chases, dream sequences, 'celebrity' cameos and lots of Easter Eggs.

There's also some lovely outdoor scenes - the crew really did make the most of their (presumably) limited budget. For a daft film - it's actually rather clever!

You don't have to be a diehard Kunt fan to 'get' this movie - yes, there are some in-jokes but, basically, if you are a fan of toilet humour and OTT comedy, this is the film for you. Stick it on the telly after you come back from the pub and you're sorted!

Be warned, though - once the songs that feature on the soundtrack worm their way into your head, they will NEVER leave!

I look forward to buying a copy of the film on DVD when it comes out - or, even better, getting to see it again in the cinema with my mates.

We arrived, along with all the rest, excited to see the London premiere of what we knew was going to be a very funny and irreverent film Rest assured we were not disappointed! Not only was it a very funny film it was very well made, well shot and directed. Especially when you consider the minimal budget that they had to work with!

Although in my heading I suggested it might not be for the faint hearted I think I can safely say that I was one of, if not the, oldest member of the audience that night and I was certainly laughing with all the rest The fantasy dance scenes were beautifully choreographed, both well danced and funny!

All in all it was a great night out which my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed. It says something that on several occasions I have woken in the morning with Shannon's Not Dead She's Under His Bed going round in my head!!

Well done to all involved and let's hope for a greater distribution or a least a DVD Release.

Having owned the Musical on CD for years and then being informed that it was to be made into a film, I couldn't contain my excitement. Was the anticipation worth it? Absolutely! The plot may seem ridiculous. You may be sat watching and thinking "has this all come from Kunt's imagination?" Nope. It all came from Karen Matthews, believe it or not. The storyline may sound daft, but the beauty of it is how Kunt and co have managed to write hilarious songs based on the story. The actors portraying the characters do a superb job also of bringing the story line to life with humor. Don't Wikipedia to find out what happened. Just watch this film...