Comedy

• Absolutely Fabulous - Series 5 - Complete | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £6.23   |  Saving you £13.76 (220.87%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley return as the outrageous Bolly-swilling duo for 8 episodes in the fifth series of the award-winning BBC1 comedy. Eddy is now a Celebrity PR guru and Patsy her 'style consultant'. Between them they have a plethora of new showbiz pals including an ex-Spice Girl and a Hollywood starlet. No celebrity is safe! Meanwhile the long-suffering Saffy returns from her travels abroad with some big news for her mother: the question on Eddy's lips is 'does La

• Les Patterson Saves The World | DVD | (29/07/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  Dr. Sir Leslie Colin Patterson KBE is sent to an oil-rich Gulf state to try to make peace after a United Nations blunder. While there he escapes from a firing squad and discovers a diabolical plan to hold the world to biological ransom. Meanwhile undercover CIA agent Dame Edna Everage arrives on a 'Possums For Peace' tour. On a visit to a local factory she also discovers the real truth.

• Fletch | DVD | (29/02/2016) from £5.39   |  Saving you £9.60 (64.00%)   |  RRP £14.99

  Fletch is a fairly sarcastic and occasionally very funny Chevy Chase vehicle scripted by Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The Freshman, Honeymoon in Vegas) from Gregory McDonald's lightweight mystery novel about an undercover newspaper reporter cracking a police drug ring. Enjoyment of the film pivots on whether you find Chase's flippant, smart-ass brand of verbal humour funny, or merely egocentric. If you don't like Chase, there's really no one else worth watching (Geena Davis is sadly underused). Chase seems born to play IM "Fletch" Fletcher, a disillusioned investigative reporter whose cynicism and detached view on life mirrors the actor's understated approach to comedy. Fletcher offers Chase the opportunity to adopt numerous personas, as his job requires numerous (bad) physical disguises, and much of film's humour centres on the ridiculous idea that any of these phoney accents or bad hairpieces could fool anyone. These not-so-clever disguises are put to use when Fletch becomes involved in the film's smart but continually self-mocking two-part mystery. As well as trying to gather drug-smuggling evidence against the LAPD for a long-overdue newspaper story, a rich and apparently terminally ill stranger also offers Fletch a large payoff to kill him. While the film does a fairly good job juggling both of these plots, not to mention tossing in a love interest as well, they're subservient, for better or worse, to Chase's memorable one-liners and disguises. Followed by two forgettable sequels that lack both the original's wit and Chase's attention span.--Dave McCoy, Amazon.com

• Three Up, Two Down | DVD | (17/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  A pair of widowed grandparents are forced to cohabit in their children's basement. Daphne (Angela Thorne) is a snobby Cheltenham-bred lady while Sam (Michael Elphick) is the cockney wide boy who has designs on Daphne. First broadcast in 1985 this release includes all the episodes from Series One and Two of Three Up Two Down. Episode titles: Your Place Or Mine? Widower's Mite Ill Wind From Cheltenham Epping's Not Far Just Desserts Two Down One To Go Major Inconvenience Sweet

• Till Death Us Do Part | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The world according to Alf Garnett - the most opinionated loud-mouthed and prejudiced bigot in all comedy creation! Londoner Alf chronicles the hilarious history of the put-upon Garnett family from the war with Hitler to another battle with the Germans - the 1966 World Cup Final!

• Two Way Stretch | DVD | (08/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A great British crime comedy always worth another watch, Two Way Stretch is the one about the cosily imprisoned crooks who hatch a scheme to pull off a heist with a perfect alibi by breaking out of their nick, doing the job and then breaking back into the jug again to serve out their sentences. Peter Sellers, usually an eccentric support in these things, takes a rare lead as cocky mastermind Dodger Lane, confident enough to share the screen with performers who would be doing serious time if scene-stealing were an actual offence. The chief delight of the film, obvious inspiration for Blakey from On the Buses, is Lionel Jeffries' bristling, infuriated, hilariously humiliated warder Sidney Crout, forever fuming as Dodger gets away with some new scheme. Also in on the scam: Wilfrid Hyde White as a bogus clergyman of extreme unctuousness, David Lodge as the dim-witted muscle bloke, and Bernard Cribbins in the nice young man part. The wayward plot finds room for cameos from such national institutions as Beryl Reid, Irene Handl and Liz Fraser. Director Robert Day, probably best known for the Hammer version of She, is nobody's idea of an auteur, but he puts this pacey little gem together perfectly. The British cinema has been turning out an unheralded series of wonderful caper comedies for decades, from The Lavender Hill Mob through A Fish Called Wanda to The Parole Officer; this effort--along with the follow-up The Wrong Arm of the Law--ranks among the best. On the DVD: Two Way Stretch comes to disc in a nice print. The film is also available as part of the four-disc Peter Sellers Collection.--Kim Newman

• The Office - Series 1 and 2 | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £17.53   |  Saving you £12.46 (71.08%)   |  RRP £29.99

  It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base that the programme acquired watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable. Set in the offices of a fictional Slough paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television programme. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth, a paradigm of Andy McNab's readership; the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch; and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim, whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of the life he dreams uselessly of escaping. The show is stolen, as it was intended to be, by insufferable office manager David Brent, played by cowriter Ricky Gervais. Brent will become a name as emblematic for a particular kind of British grotesque as Alan Partridge or Basil Fawlty, but he is a deeper character than either. Partridge and Fawlty are exaggerations of reality, and therefore safely comic figures. Brent is as appalling as only reality can be. --Andrew Mueller On the DVD: Series 1 is tastefully packaged as a two-disc set appropriately adorned with John Betjeman's poem "Slough". The special features occupy the second disc and consist of a laid-back 39-minute documentary entitled "How I Made The Office by Ricky Gervais", with cowriter Stephen Merchant and the cast contributing. Here we discover that Gervais spends his time on set "mucking around and annoying people", and that actress Lucy Davis (Dawn) is the daughter of Jasper Carrott; as well as seeing parts of the original short film and the original BBC pilot episode; plus we get to enjoy many examples of the cast corpsing throughout endless retakes. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, none of which were deleted because they weren't funny. Series 2 is a single-disc release, but the extra features are enjoyable nonetheless. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant feature in a gleefully shambolic video diary--highlights of which include Gervais flicking elastic bands at his cowriter and taping their editor to his swivel chair. The ubiquitous Gervais also mockingly introduces some outtakes (mostly of him corpsing throughout dozens of takes) and a series of deleted scenes, notably of Gareth arriving in his horrendous cycle shorts. --Mark Walker

• Scary Movie 3 | DVD | (14/06/2004) from £8.13   |  Saving you £11.86 (145.88%)   |  RRP £19.99

  From the director of "Airplane" comes the third instalment in the scary spoof franchise.

• Kick Ass 2 | HD DVD | (11/09/2023) from £199.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Self-made superhero Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and sweet-faced, foul-mouthed assassin Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) try to return to life as normal teenagers, but soon they are faced with their deadliest challenge yet. To seek revenge for his father's death, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has re-invented himself as the leader of an evil league of super-villains. To defeat their new nemesis, Kick-Ass and Hit Girl must team up with a new wave of masked crusaders, led by the badass Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), in this battle of real-life villains and heroes. Product Features Alternate Opening Big Daddy Returns: The Unshot Scene An Ass-Kicking Cast Street Rules: Showdown at the Evil Lair Hit Girl Attacks: Creating the Van Sequence Extended Scenes The Making of Kick-Ass 2 The B**** is Back: Chloë Grace Moretz is Hit Girl Mother Russia Mayhem Making the Cut: Adventures in Post-Production The Saga Continues...Kick-Ass in the Comics And More

• Wanderlust | DVD | (25/06/2012) from £3.80   |  Saving you £9.19 (241.84%)   |  RRP £12.99

  George (Rudd) and Linda (Aniston) are an overextended, stressed out Manhattan couple whose lives are turned upside down when they stumble upon Elysium, an idyllic community populated by colorful characters who embrace a different way of looking at things.

• That Sinking Feeling (Remastered) (BFI Flipside) (DVD + Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (21/04/2014) from £9.49   |  Saving you £10.50 (110.64%)   |  RRP £19.99

  BFI Flipside presents acclaimed director Bill Forsyth's (Gregory's Girl, Local Hero) hilarious directorial debut. Unemployed teenager Ronnie (Robert Buchanan, Gregory's Girl) and his hapless pals spend their time hanging around the rainy parks and dingy cafes of Glasgow, but their world is about to change when Ronnie hatches a plan to make them all rich by stealing a job-lot of stainless steel sinks. Hilarious and inventive, this zero budget debut from celebrated director Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, Comfort and Joy) provides an authentic depiction of 1970s Glasgow youth culture, and is presented here for the first time in a new HD transfer complete with the original Glaswegian dialogue track

• Not Only But Always | DVD | (05/05/2008) from £11.89   |  Saving you £-3.90 (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  A biopic of the relationship between Peter Cook (Ifans) and Dudley Moore (MacArdle) who became one of the best loved British comedy double acts... Credited as the inventors of modern British satire 'Not Only But Always' charts the searing highs and lows of these two extraordinary and different comedians whose careers and private lives often swung in as uncontrolled and anarchic turns as their wit. From their first meeting as Cambridge undergraduates in 1960 through their begi

• Cannon & Ball - Live | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £6.99   |  Saving you £13.00 (185.98%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For the first time ever Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball's live show is available to own on DVD. Filmed live at the Blackpool Grand this is the exclusive to DVD recording of their hit extravaganza 'Legends of Comedy'

• Populaire | DVD | (23/09/2013) from £8.49   |  Saving you £9.50 (111.90%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Determined to make something of herself Rose travels to Normandy to try out for a job as a secretary for Louis Echard a confirmed bachelor and one-time unsuccessful sportsman. Lacking the necessary style and grace to perform the role Rose's interview is a disaster but at the last minute she reveals a special gift - she is a speed demon on the typewriter. Seeing an opportunity to re-live his glory days as a competitor Louis employs Rose and begins an intensive training regime to get her ready to compete in the country's cut-throat typing contests. With eye-popping visuals and dazzling costumes Populaire is a chic and sumptuous romance sparkling with vintage Hollywood charm.

• Worst Week Of My Life - Series 2 | DVD | (09/10/2006) from £9.29   |  Saving you £10.70 (115.18%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In series two Howard and Mel, now married, have a baby on the way. Unsurprisingly things are far from smooth going and Howard manages to make the Cook family hate him even more!

• Haunted House 2 | DVD | (23/02/2015) from £5.95   |  Saving you £10.04 (168.74%)   |  RRP £15.99

  After losing his beloved Kisha in a car accident Malcolm decides to start anew by remarrying mother of two Megan. But things soon go back to their old paranormal ways with the kids and new wife becoming targets of unexplained phenomena. To make matters worse Kisha has come back to life and moved into the neighbourhood with horrifying and hilarious results. Haunted House 2 is outrageous hilarious and over the top! Special Features: Deleted Scenes

• Nobody's Fool (DVD) | DVD | (18/03/2019) from £8.95   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Trying to get back on her feet, wild child Tanya (Tiffany Haddish) looks to her buttoned-up, by the book sister Danica (Tika Sumpter) to help her get back on track. As these polar opposites collide with hilarious and sometimes disastrous results Tanya discovers that Danica's picture-perfect life including her mysterious boyfriend may not be what it seems.

• A Christmas Carol (Blu-ray 3D) | Blu Ray | (20/02/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Fans of Robert Zemeckis's brilliant special effects, and of Jim Carrey's transformative acting abilities, will be swept away by their collaboration in the stunning A Christmas Carol. Perhaps more surprising is that Charles Dickens purists will also be impressed and captivated by this version of the oft-told tale--which is dark, complex, and in its way, uncompromising. Which is all to say that this Christmas Carol is an instant holiday classic, easily taking its place alongside the Alistair Sim version, the Patrick Stewart version, and even the Mr. Magoo version of the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his ultimate holiday redemption. Carrey is dazzling as not only Scrooge, the most miserable, and miserly, man in 19th-century England, but as the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future. As with The Polar Express, Zemeckis animates the film over the actors' physical performances onscreen, but here, the emotion is intact--even heightened by the brilliant effects. Joining Carrey in the cast are terrific players, including Gary Oldman (Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, and the ghost of Marley), Cary Elwes, Bob Hoskins, and Robin Wright Penn. But the heart of the film is Carrey, whose dramatic acting has shone in films like The Truman Show and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. The emotional connection Carrey makes with his characters is what brings Dickens's classic alive--and what connects the viewer with the true spirit of the holidays. "God bless us, every one". --A.T. Hurley

• A Countess From Hong Kong | DVD | (07/03/2005) from £5.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (85.69%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Charlie Chaplin's final film is a delightful romantic comedy filled with the clever touches for which he's famous. Written directed and composed by Chaplin it revolves around Russian migr countess Natascha (Sophia Loren) forced into prostitution in Hong Kong who stows away in wealthy American Ogden's (Marlon Brando's) stateroom to blackmail her way to the States. Since Ogden has a mind of his own and can even resist Natascha's charms what follows is one of the funniest tugs o

• Short Circuit 2 DELUXE LIMITED EDITION | Blu Ray | (26/04/2021) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Number Five is still alive! Following on from his misadventures in the first Short Circuit, everyone's favourite robot Johnny Five is back for seconds, this time in the big city, where his creator Benjamin Jahveri (Fisher Stevens) is trying to make his fortune and where criminals think they can use Johnny to assist their illicit actives. A worthy follow-up to the beloved original, the boffins at 88 Films are proud to present the UK Blu-ray premier of this enduring family favourite. Extras: Director's Commentary Original Theatrical Trailer Profile on Fisher Stevens