Comedy

• Goodness Gracious Me - Complete Series 3 | DVD | (17/05/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Goodness Gracious Me was never quite a classic comedy series, but it did achieve the goal of all such sketch shows: to make at least a couple of its characters part of the popular discourse. The show's best creations were those that served to let the rest of Britain in on a few of the in-jokes in British/Asian life. The bitterly competitive immigrant mothers boasting about the achievements of their first-generation children, the over-compensating, more-British-than-the-British Kapoor family and the obstinately patriotic Mr Everything Came from India. The sketch in which the latter passionately argues that Leonardo da Vinci was, in fact, Indian is a particular joy. Fine though these ideas were, Goodness Gracious Me also carried its share of padding. Hapless Romeo Mr Check Please is a less funny and less charming reading of The Fast Show's "I'll get me coat", and the kindest that can be said musical sketches is that they're not quite as lame as the ones on Smack the Pony. On the DVD: Goodness Gracious Me, Series 3 offers the standard episode selector, a song selector to direct the viewer to the unfunny musical parody of their choice, augmented by a simple yet brilliant idea that should be mandatory for all sketch show DVDs: another selector which allows you to watch all the sketches from the series featuring one particular character. The DVD also contains an interview with cast member Nina Wadia. No subtitles are available. --Andrew Mueller

• The Wedding Date/My Big Fat Greek Wedding/The Wedding Singer | DVD | (24/10/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The Wedding Date (Dir. Clare Kilner 2005): In this sparkling romantic comedy Debra Messing plays Kat a never-married New Yorker who is invited to her parents' London home for her younger sister's wedding. What should be a joyous occasion bodes disaster for Kat however when she discovers that the best man will be none other than her ex-fianc who two years before inexplicably dumped her. In a desperate attempt to face the ordeal with dignity Kat hires Nick (Dermot Mulroney) a charming and handsome professional male escort to pose as her new boyfriend and escort her to the wedding. Even more valuable to Kat than Nick's good looks and charisma is his keen insight into human behavior--a well-learned trick of his trade. Over the course of the weekend Nick takes on the role of the bride's therapist the father's ideal son-in-law the groom's new best friend and the object of every woman's affection. For Kat what starts out as a pretend relationship with Nick begins to turn into something entirely unexpected: a second chance at love. My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Dir. Joel Zwick 2002): In this hit ethnic comedy Toula (Nia Vardalos) is a thirty-year-old ugly duckling whose life is going nowhere while she works long hours in her family's Greek diner (called Dancing Zorba's). She then decides to give herself a radical makeover lands a new job in her aunt's travel agency and falls for a hunky sensitive vegetarian teacher (John Corbett). They soon decide to get married but her family have a history of getting hitched exclusively to other Greeks. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a warm funny comedy adapted by writer/star Vardalos from her own one-woman show. The Wedding Singer (Dir. Frank Coraci 1998): It's 1985 and Robbie Hart (Adam Sandler) is the ultimate master of ceremonies until he is left at the altar at his own wedding. Devastated he becomes a newlywed's worst nightmare - an entertainer who can do nothing but destroy other people's weddings. It's not until he meets a warm-hearted waitress named Julia (Drew Barrymore) that he starts to pick up the pieces of his heart. The only problem is Julia's about to have a wedding of her own and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime the girl of his dreams will be gone forever...

• Orphans (Standard Edition) | Blu Ray | (19/08/2024) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Renowned Scottish actor Peter Mullan (Trainspotting, My Name Is Joe) made his feature film directing debut with this fierce jet-black comedy of familial grief shot in and around the streets of Glasgow where he grew up. As it tells the story of four siblings who reunite for the funeral of their mother, Orphans blends realist drama, wildly absurdist humour, and moving social observation. Taking wicked delight in subverting audience expectations, this gleefully unsentimental film is a dark, dangerous, funny and extraordinarily touching modern classic of Scottish cinema. INDICATOR STANDARD EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES High Definition remaster Original 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio tracks Audio commentary with writer-director Peter Mullan (2000) Orphans Reunited (2019, 60 mins): Hopscotch Films' 20th-anniversary documentary featuring interviews with Mullan, actors Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Stephen McCole, and Rosemarie Stevenson, composer Craig Armstrong, and others The Making of 'Orphans' (2000, 33 mins): archival documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage Deleted scenes with optional director commentary (12 mins) Audition tapes with optional director commentary (17 mins) Three short films directed by Mullan: Close (1994, 17 mins), Good Day for the Bad Guys (1995, 23 mins), and Fridge (1995, 21 mins) Original theatrical trailer Image gallery: publicity and promotional material New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Top Knot Detective | Blu Ray | (18/03/2019) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  This is the story of how a failed Japanese samurai series, became an instant cult classic.

• The Necessary Death Of Charlie Countryman | Blu Ray | (02/03/2015) from £8.39   |  Saving you £16.60 (197.85%)   |  RRP £24.99

  While travelling abroad, Charlie Countryman (Shia LaBeouf) falls for Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood), a Romanian beauty whose unreachable heart has its origins in Nigel (Mads Mikkelsen), her violent, charismatic ex. As the darkness of Gabi's past increasingly envelops him, Charlie resolves to win her heart, or die trying.

• Like Mike | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £3.95   |  Saving you £12.04 (304.81%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A 14-year-old orphan becomes an NBA superstar after trying on a pair of sneakers with the faded initials "M.J." inside.

• Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-rama | DVD | (27/06/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Few films from the rental shop era are more likely to raise a smile among Scream Queen buffs than 1987's classic SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA. Originally released in the UK under the moniker of THE IMP, this creature feature favourite introduces us to a pint-sized pest that grants wishes but also takes soul-control of those stupid enough to fall for his promises. Featuring a cast headlined by video vixen superstars Linnea Quigley (RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD), Brinke Stevens (NIGHTMARE SISTERS) and Michelle Bauer (HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS), and directed by low budget legend David DeCoteau (CREEPOZOIDS), this is not only a rental shop romp that defies time but one of the all-time must-see late night beer and pizza pot-boilers! With plenty of boobs and blood, and a brand new HD restoration, 88 Films is proud to present SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA in a stunning special edition Blu-ray package! Extra: Trailer

• Cheeky | DVD | (05/06/2017) from £7.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When free-spirited beauty Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) moves to London, her search for a flat leads to a lesbian seduction by estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), much to the horror of Carla's boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) still stuck in their native Venice. And then he discovers a cache of letters from an ex-boyfriend, accompanied by a highly revealing and very public photograph of her... Ravishingly shot in two of the world's great cities, bouncily scored by Pino Donaggio, and crammed with wall-to-wall nudity and casual sexual flings, Cheeky is as lighthearted as its title suggests, but it's subtler and more philosophical than the average sex romp. In particular, it's a genuinely moving look at problems arising when a desire to remain scrupulously faithful collides with the lure of baser instincts. Carla genuinely loves Matteo, but how can she reassure him when he spots temptation around every corner?

• Appropriate Behaviour (DVD) | DVD | (29/06/2015) from £7.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.12%)   |  RRP £15.99

  For Shirin (Desiree Akhavan) being part of a perfect family isn’t easy. Acceptance eludes her from all sides: her family doesn’t know she’s bisexual and her ex-girlfriend Maxine (Rebecca Henderson) can’t understand why she doesn’t tell them. Even the six-year-old boys in her moviemaking class are too ADD to focus on her for more than a second. Following a family announcement of her brother’s betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of escapades while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine. From writer/director/actress Desiree Akhavan (the unfathomable love-child of Woody Allen Lena Dunham and Tina Fey) comes an ironic Iranian hipster date movie; APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR is an achingly cool post-feminist comedy about what happens when a girl comes out and discovers that extraordinary is the new ordinary. Extras: Exclusive Director & Producer Interview & Behind The Scenes Featurette

• Lee Nelson's Well Good Show | DVD | (22/08/2011) from £4.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (303.02%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Lee Nelson's Well Good Show is the critically acclaimed smash hit BBC Three comedy series starring South London's irrepressible tearaway Lee Nelson and his best mate 'fat legend' Omelette. Brash ballsy cheeky charming and always very very funny; this two-disc DVD features every episode from Series One and almost an hour and a half of unseen brand new and specially recorded material. Plus all your other favourites including - Premier League footballer Jason Bent in 110% Bent; Hospital Life with Dr Bob; Faliraki Nights; Buzz Box with Hugo Victor-Grant and lots lots more. Qwaliteeeee!

• Norman Wisdom - Live On Stage | DVD | (05/04/2004) from £11.05   |  Saving you £-0.06 (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Norman Wisdom performing live on stage. With his undiminished ability to delight and enchant audiences Sir Norman Wisdom displays the full range of his talents - clowning joking falling about and singing some of his best loved songs including his own compositions.

• Agent Cody Banks/Agent Cody Banks 2 - Destination London | DVD | (13/05/2013) from £9.97   |  Saving you £3.02 (30.29%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Agent Cody BanksFrankie Muniz (Malcom in the Middle) and Hilary Duff (Lizzie Maguire) star in this exciting action-adventure film about a junior secret agent on a mission to save the world stop the bad guys and get the girl! From car snowmobile and skateboard chases to battling nanobots and infiltrating the villain's heavily guarded secret hideout Agent Cody Banks delivers all the coolest gadgets and incredible special effects you'd expect from the ultimate junior spy adventure! Agent Cody Banks 2Frankie Muniz (Big Fat Liar Malcome in the Middle) and Hannah Spearritt (S Club 7) are up to their eyes in intrigue in an all-new high energy action-adventure with new gadgets slick special effects and wicked chase sequences. Co-starring the hilarious Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack) this is a topnotch top-secret sequel that's licensed to thrill!

• Top of the Form | DVD | (09/07/2018) from £9.49   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Hilarious 1950's comedy of an under-performing public school directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Ronald Shiner, Anthony Newley and Ronnie Corbett. Professor Fortescue (Ronald Shiner) is a fake Professor trying unsuccessfully to sell his system for picking racehorse winners. When by chance, he succeeds he is chased by the local bookmakers. Attempting to escape, Fortescue stumbles into Bagshot Boys College and despite his lack of formal education, accepts the role of Professor of an unruly bunch of boys. When the boys cheat in an exam and win a trip to Paris Fortescue has to maintain control as they all head to France. His task becomes more difficult when the brother of one of the boys joins the trip to steal the famous Marie Antoinette necklace, and the trip quickly descends into hilarious chaos. A superb ensemble cast includes, Richard Wattis, Alfie Bass and Harry Fowler.

• Zelig | Blu Ray | (12/12/2016) from £14.55   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Mockumentaries are ten a penny these days, but in 1983 Zelig offered something startlingly new, as heavyweight talking heads such as Saul Bellow and Susan Sontag discuss an entirely fictional character who is nonetheless strangely convincing. Leonard Zelig (Woody Allen) is a man so introverted and insecure that he has developed the ability to blend perfectly into the background of any given situation, regardless of the personality or even ethnicity of the people around him. But when he inadvertently becomes famous as the human chameleon after the media takes too keen an interest in his therapy sessions with Dr Eudora Fletcher (Mia Farrow), Zelig is faced with an unprecedented challenge: how do you fade into the background when the spotlight is firmly upon you? Zelig isn't just hilarious but also an incredible technical accomplishment. Without any recourse to CGI techniques that had yet to be invented, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Gordon Willis inserts Zelig into actual 1920s and 30s footage so seamlessly that you're convinced that he's really interacting with the likes of Babe Ruth and Adolf Hitler.

• Re:Joyce! - A Celebration Of The Work Of Joyce Grenfell | DVD | (21/06/2004) from £19.90   |  Saving you £-3.91 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Re: Joyce is Maureen Lipmans' amusing and affectionate tribute to English comedienne Joyce Grenfell. Star of the English stage and screen Grenfell's style of humour was simple and charming but also sophisticated. In this special recording of the stage show Maureen Lipman guides us through the life and times of Joyce Grenfell. It is not only a salute to the skills of Joyce Grenfell but also to the craft of one of Britains finest comediennes - Maureen Lipman.

• Hancock's Half Hour - Vol. 2 - The Best Of | DVD | (08/08/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Tony Hancock stars with Sid James as the irrepressible tenant of 23 Railway Cuttings East Cheam. Hancock's Half-Hour is the yardstick against which all subsequent British sitcoms have been measured the vast majority failing to size up to its extremely high standards. Based on his famous radio show of the same name the TV run consolidated Tony Hancock's standing as Britain's leading comic of the day; the entertainer providing ample proof that his wonderfully flexible

• Monte Carlo/ Ramona and Beezus Double Pack | DVD | (04/06/2012) from £4.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (160.32%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Monte CarloA graduation trip to Paris and a case of mistaken identity coincide to give three Texan girls an overseas adventure they'll never forget. Friends Grace (Selena Gomez) and Emma (Katie Cassidy) are going on a trip to Paris to celebrate Grace's graduation, but find themselves saddled with Emma's soon-to-be stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester), who's just about as different from Emma and Grace as is humanly possible. The trip starts out rushed and much less glamorous than the girls anticipated, but when Grace is mistaken for British heiress Cordelia Winthrop Scott, the girls suddenly find themselves in the lap of luxury and wind up at a charity event in Monte Carlo. Along the way, each of the girls meets a boy who helps them to mature and discover what's truly important in their lives. This movie has essentially been done before (think The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Cheetah Girls 2), and even with the star power of Gomez, this rendition pales in comparison. Throw in the unlikely pairing of Cassidy and Gomez as friends and contemporaries despite their significant age difference, and the abrupt personality switch that Meester's character undergoes, and the whole film comes off as pretty unbelievable to those over 12-years-old. However, tweens are likely to find the characters and situation enticing enough, especially when combined with the draw of Disney Channel icon Gomez, to earn the film a passing score. (Ages 10 to 12) --Tami Horiuchi Ramona and BeezusBeverly Cleary fans will love Ramona and Beezus, a peppy, affectionately directed film based on the series of Cleary's children's books, starring the adorable, awkward Ramona Quimby. Ramona and Beezus manages to appeal to three distinctly different audiences--tweens, because of its heroine, played with winsome agility by the adorable Joey King; teens, because of the presence of actress-singer Selena Gomez as Beezus (short for Beatrice), the hapless Ramona's older sister; and adults, because of the great casting of the girls' parents, Bridget Moynahan and especially John Corbett. There's also a romantic sub-story involving Ramona's Aunt Bea, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, and a neighbour, Hobart (Josh Duhamel). But the star of this film, as with the Cleary books, is Ramona, the imaginative, active, creative, and sometimes lost-in-her-own-world 9-year-old, whose best intentions have a funny way of nearly always going awry. Ramona and Beezus is adapted from several of Cleary's books, and readers will recognise many of Ramona's escapades and mishaps. And perhaps surprisingly, they knit together to make a fine, cohesive family film--the cast interacts well together, especially King and Gomez, whose sisterly chemistry is adorable. There are several laugh-out-loud moments, including a really, really bad cooking incident, and the most creative accidental paint job ever perpetrated on a Jeep. But there's pathos too, and real family emotion, and there are a few teary scenes that make Ramona and Beezus that much more endearing. My 10-year-old companion pronounced it "awesome," "believable," and "really, really funny, with good music." Beverly Cleary fans of all ages will agree. --A.T. Hurley

• Auf Wiedersehen Pet - Series 1 - Vol. 1 : Episodes 1-3 | DVD | (27/05/2002) from £7.24   |  Saving you £5.75 (79.42%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Contains the episodes: 'If I Were A Carpenter' 'Who Won The War Anyway?' and 'The Girls They Left Behind'.

• Al Murray - Time Gentlemen Please - Complete Serie | DVD | (16/03/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  37 episodes of the Al Murray sitcom Time Gentleman Please.

• Withnail and I | DVD | (31/10/2011) from £12.13   |  Saving you £3.86 (31.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Starring Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann in career defining roles, Withnail And I is one of the most hilarious and iconic comedies of British cinema. Written and directed by Bruce Robinson, this twisted, timeless and acerbic masterpiece is a genuine cult classic.It's 1969 and London isn't exactly swinging for struggling, unemployed actors Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and I (Paul McGann). Living amongst the crumbling squalor of a Camden flat their uneventful existence is fuelled by cheap drugs, bad booze and lighter fluid. When Withnail's eccentric Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) offers them his cottage retreat, both Withnail and I decide to escape to the glorious English countryside for a carefree weekend. But what they find is less than idyllic as they're forced to contend with disastrous weather conditions, hostile locals and the amorous motives of a certain Uncle Monty. It's the end of the greatest decade in the history of mankind and there's going to be a lot of refugees.