Comedy

• The Parole Officer | Blu Ray | (04/07/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Although there are one or two belly laughs along the way, for the most part The Parole Officer gets by on the pleasantly old-fashioned charm of a latter-day Ealing comedy. And despite a handful of gross-out moments (involving a roller coaster at Blackpool, a severed head and a wasp) most of the humour comes from the interaction of a good ensemble cast. It’s the first big-screen vehicle for Steve Coogan, who plays the titular officer as a watered-down, more likeable version of his most famous creation, Alan Partridge. After being set up by a corrupt detective Coogan’s hapless Simon Garden--in fact always identified as a Probation Officer, so presumably the film’s title is an attempt to attract a transatlantic audience--must recruit a motley gang of his ex-con clients to plan and execute a bank robbery in Manchester. Indeed, one of the film’s principal attractions is its affectionate use of that city centre as a setting instead of the more usual seedy London locations of most British caper-comedies.Coogan’s gang are a familiarly dysfunctional bunch, redeemed by sympathetic performances from, notably, Om Puri as irascible serial bigamist George and the young Emma Williams as serial car thief Kirsty. Not enough effort goes into fleshing out the characters, though, and in particular Lena Headey as Coogan’s policewoman girlfriend is far too thinly sketched to seem convincing. However, much fun is had by all as the team bond, bicker and construct, A Team-style, the tools they need for the big heist. The bank raid itself is the film’s highlight and features a surprising deus ex machina appearance from a very distinguished guest star. If The Parole Officer never stretches to the sublime heights (or psychological depths) of I’m Alan Partridge, it does play out in a brisk 90 minutes like an extended episode of Coogan’s Run; which is to say it’s got plenty of easygoing charm even if it never pushes any boundaries. On the DVD: the handful of extra features include a surprisingly serious commentary from Coogan, cowriter Henry Normal, director John Duigan and producer Duncan Kenworthy. More interesting is the handful of deleted scenes, in which we find that some precious character development was sacrificed in the interests of pace (as well as a couple of perfectly good jokes). There's a 22-minute featurette, which isn't really a "making of" but just a series of interviews with the principal cast, plus the trailer and Atomic Kitten's "Eternal Flame" video. The picture is a good anamorphic (16:9) ratio with Dolby 5.1 sound. --Mark Walker

• Citizen Smith: Series 3 and 4 | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £30.86   |  Saving you £-5.87 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Series 3 and 4 of the sitcom adventures of Wolfie Smith. Power to the people! In Tooting London SW17 revolution is still brewing. But will the Glorious Day ever come? Will Wolfie (Robert Lindsay) Ken Tucker and Speed - the Tooting Popular Front - ever manage to drag the proletariat out of its lethargy to strike at the heart of capitalism? Or will Wolfie's domestic problems lack of money and the dreadful performance of his beloved Fulham Football Club once again prove effective

• Pryor & Wilder, 1980-1991 (Limited Edition) | Blu Ray | (18/11/2024) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  STIR CRAZY (Sidney Poitier, 1980)SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL (Arthur Hiller, 1989)ANOTHER YOU (Maurice Phillips, 1991)Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder were two of American cinema's best-loved comic actors, and this box set collects three of their classic collaborations.In Stir Crazy, Skip (Wilder) and Harry (Pryor) are sentenced to 125 years for a bank robbery they didn't commit and must rely on each other to survive in a maximum-security prison. In See No Evil, Hear No Evil, blind Wally (Pryor) and deaf Dave (Wilder) team up to foil a murderous gang of thieves. Finally, in Another You, compulsive liar George (Wilder) is mistaken for the heir to a fortune, to the delight of conman Eddie (Pryor).This essential three-disc collection features newly remastered versions of all three films, accompanied by an array of fascinating contextualising extras, including newly recorded commentaries, interviews, and critical appreciations, as well as a 100-page book containing new and archival writings. Strictly limited to 6,000 individually numbered units. INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION 3x BLU-RAY BOXSET SPECIAL FEATURES High Definition remasters of Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You Original mono audio on Stir Crazy Original stereo audio on See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You Audio commentaries on Stir Crazy and See No Evil, Hear No Evil with entertainment journalists Max Evry and Bryan Reesman (2024) Audio commentary on Another You with film historian Kim Newman and Empire magazine editor Nick de Semlyen (2024) Interview with Tom Scott (2024): the composer and actor talks about his work on the Stir Crazy score Interview with Stewart Copeland (2024): the composer and Police drummer recalls his work on the See No Evil, Hear No Evil score Michael Boyce Gillespie on Sidney Poitier (2024): the cinema studies professor discusses Poitier's directorial career and his relationship with Richard Pryor The Making of ˜See No Evil, Hear No Evil': archival promotional documentary Original theatrical trailers Image galleries: promotional and publicity materials New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Limited edition exclusive 100-page book with new essay by Jeff Billington, extracts from archival interviews with Pryor and Wilder, archival production reports on Stir Crazy, extracts from the films' pressbooks, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and full film credits UK premiere on Blu-ray Limited edition of 6,000 individually numbered units for the UK All extras subject to change

• Duck Soup | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £11.57   |  Saving you £-1.58 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A pointed political satire 'Duck Soup' is the Marx Brothers' funniest and most insane film! Groucho is Rufus T. Firefly the hilarious dictator of mythical Freedonia. Harpo and Chico are commisioned as spies by Groucho's political rival the calculating Trentino. The film contains many of the brothers' famous sequences: the lemonade stand the Paul Revere parody the ""We're Going To War"" number (a beautiful spoof of 30's musicals) the hilarious mirror scene and a final battle episo

• Bhaji on the Beach | DVD | (17/09/2007) from £9.98   |  Saving you £8.00 (100.13%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A day trip to Blackpool to sea the lights a harmless break from the routine for a minibus full of women from the Asian Women's Centre. It all seems innocent enough but as the minibus trundles along to a Punjabi rendition of Cliff Richard's ""Summer Holiday"" problems quickly become apparent. Ginder (Kim Vithana) is fleeing her violent husband with her five-year-old son. Hashida (Sarita Khajuria) is eighteen about to start medical school and has just discovered she is pregnant by he

• The Ladykillers | DVD | (25/10/2004) from £4.79   |  Saving you £13.20 (275.57%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Tom Hanks teams up with the Coen brothers for a remake of the classic 1955 Ealing comedy about a group of thieves trying to bump off their landlady.

• Only Fools And Horses - Dates | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £6.99   |  Saving you £9.00 (128.76%)   |  RRP £15.99

  It's been a good month for Trotter's Independent Trading Company. The unprecedented demand for ladies razors has meant Del and Rodney can escape the daily struggle for a while and enjoy life's rewards. Uncle Albert's unmissable hints about his forthcoming birthday means there's a celebration on the cards and the new computer dating agency means romance is in the air. While Rodney's afternoon cruise in the three - wheeler with Nervous Neris proves memorable for all the wrong reason

• Santa Claus - The Movie | DVD | (19/10/2009) from £2.23   |  Saving you £3.76 (168.61%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The Legend Comes To Life From the writers of the Superman trilogy comes Santa Claus The Movie! This is the delightful story of a master toymaker who discovers a magical kingdom of elves at the North Pole where he is entrusted with special powers to become Santa Claus! There he meets Patch (Dudley Moore) an eager-to-please elf who becomes mixed up with a dastardly tycoon's plans to take over Christmas!

• Other Guys, the / Step Brother | DVD | (24/01/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Titles Comprise: The Other Guys: Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) are a joke at the police station. Can this down and out duo nerd and hot headed tough guy overcome a plethora of humorous obstacles accidents and misunderstandings to bust the bad guys in a high profile case and gain the respect of their peers? Talladega Nights: From the people who bought you Anchorman and The 40 Year Old Virgin comes this hilarious fast-paced comedy starring Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby - one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. Ricky has everything a racing sensation and national hero could wish for: a luxurious mansion a smokin' hot wife (Leslie Bibb) and a loyal racing partner childhood friend Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly). But flamboyant French Formula One driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) is about to wreck Ricky's world and challenge for the supremacy of NASCAR. Now Ricky must face his demons and kick some serious asphalt if he's to get his career back on the track beat Girard and reclaim his fame and fortune. 'Cause as Ricky Bobby always says If You Ain't First Your Last!' Step Brothers: In Step Brothers Ferrell plays Brennan Huff a sporadically employed thirty-nine-year-old who lives with his mother Nancy (Mary Steenburgen). Reilly plays Dale Doback a terminally unemployed forty-year-old who lives with his father Robert (Richard Jenkins). When Robert and Nancy marry and move in together Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers. As their narcissism and downright aggressive laziness threaten to tear the family apart these two middle-aged immature overgrown boys will orchestrate an insane elaborate plan to bring their parents back together. To pull it off they must form an unlikely bond that maybe just maybe will finally get them out of the house.

• Meet The Parents/Meet The Fockers | DVD | (07/09/2009) from £8.99   |  Saving you £4.00 (44.49%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Meet The Fockers (2004): And you thought your parents were embarrassing. Domestic disaster looms for male nurse Greg Focker (Stiller) when his straight-laced ex-CIA father-in-law (De Niro) asks to meet his wildly unconventional mom (Streisand) and dad (Hoffman). It's family bonding gone hysterically haywire in this must-see comedy! Meet The Parents - Special Edition (2000): First comes love. Then comes the interrogation! Male nurse Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) is poised to propose to his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo) during a weekend stay at her parents' home. But here's the catch... he needs to ask her father first. Alas the fur flies as Jack Byrnes Pam's cat-crazy ex-CIA father (Robert De Niro) takes an immediate dislike to her less-than-truthful beau. Greg's quest for approval gets seriously sidetracked as Murphy's Law takes over and a hilarious string of mishaps turn him into a master of disaster and total pariah in the eyes of the entire family... all except for his shell-shocked girlfriend who can't believe she still loves her one-man wreaking crew. 'Meet The Parents' from the director of 'Austin Powers' is an uproarious blockbuster hit that bombards you with one laugh after another as true love tries to conquer all against all the odds!

• Peter Rabbit (2018) | DVD | (26/04/2021) from £5.00   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Jasper Carrott - 24 Carrott Gold - The Best Of Jasper Carrott | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £19.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £18.99

  Filmed in January 2004 at the NIA in Birmingham in front of 80 000 fans.

• Night School (Blu-ray) | Blu Ray | (11/02/2019) from £8.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When accidentally destroying his workplace gets successful salesman Teddy (KEVIN HART) fired, he can't find another decent job unless he finally gets his GED. But two major things stand in his way: Carrie (TIFFANY HADDISH), a teacher with no time for grownup class clowns, and Stewart (TARAN KILLAM), Teddy's high school nemesis-turned-principal who will do anything to see him fail. Now every school rule is about to be broken when they all go head-to-head in a wild battle of wits, pranks, and lessons you can't learn in books. Night School is in session!

• Lee Evans - Live At Her Majesty's Theatre | DVD | (06/06/2005) from £9.88   |  Saving you £10.11 (102.33%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Frenetic comedian Lee Evans captured at his hilarious best at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.

• The Kentucky Fried Movie | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £1.99

  Twenty years before the Farrelly Brothers turned raunch into acceptable film comedy, the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker exploited it first. The college threesome made it big with Airplane in 1980, but this 1977 cinematic version of their live theatre show was the ground zero for their talents. Kentucky Fried Movie is a mish-mash of sketches, fake commercials, and parodies with no central theme--except their crudeness and laugh-out-loud humour. Highlights include a commercial for "Scot Free", a board game based on the Kennedy assassination conspiracy; "The Wonderful World of Sex", in which a couple goes through foreplay with a self-help narrator instructing them step-by-step; and a 20-minute spoof of Bruce Lee films entitled "A Fistful of Yen". Brazen to a fault, the movie will reach for any punchline, no matter how crude (and those who flocked to the film's initial release looking for R-rated sex will remember the final sketch and the infamous trailer for "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble".) Directed by then-unknown John Landis (who went on to make The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London) on a shoestring budget, the film has aged. But crassness, when this funny, is forever. --Doug Thomas, Amazon.com

• Paul | Blu Ray | (27/06/2011) from £6.49   |  Saving you £18.50 (285.05%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Everything you know about aliens from pop culture is true. At least that's the message from Paul, a swift, sharp, and very funny movie from the creative minds that also brought us Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Superbad, and Adventureland. The British stars of the first two, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, also wrote the snappy screenplay, and director Greg Mottola shows that he can make human and sentimental both the slapstick and the subtle, self-referential humour the same way he did in Superbad and Adventureland. The premise Pegg and Frost have laid out for themselves as likable, sci-fi fanatic supernerds is a dream vacation starting at Comic Con, then continuing through the American Southwest in an RV visiting historic UFO sites like Area 51, the Black Mailbox, and Roswell, and finishing up at Devil's Tower in Wyoming, the iconic centerpiece from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After their inauspicious start, they happen upon an escaped alien who is 4 feet tall, and has the big head, classic diamond eyes, and features we've come to recognize as both the benevolent and evil kinds of space aliens from movies and TV. He is also the titular character, and as voiced by Seth Rogen, this CGI creature spouts a never-ending string of wisecracks, insider secrets, and frat-boy humour that comes loud and clear as classic Rogen in tone and attitude. As an aside and terrific example of the very clever throwaway punch lines that run throughout, there's a brief flashback to 1980 showing Paul on a conference call with Steven Spielberg (really), giving him advice about script development issues for E.T. Paul crash-landed in the late 1940s and has been held prisoner by the government's men in black. They've not only been pumping him for knowledge, they've also leaked the fabric and features of his being to people who want to believe, especially the ones in Hollywood. Now Paul wants to go home, and he's found the perfect getaway with the want-to-believe team of Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), who take him to his rendezvous (at Devil's Tower, of course). The road movie that unfolds is consistently hilarious, moving nimbly through one-off gags and inside jokes, but also creating larger relationships and drawn-out humour that relies on us believing that the little CGI Paul is real. And mostly we do, again thanks to Rogen's delivery and distinctive vocalizing. Paul constantly quips, makes fun, gets drunk, smokes dope, and spouts a steady stream of patter about how aliens have been bowdlerized and reimagined in entertainment and the minds of people like Graeme and Clive. There's a jam-packed supporting cast that complements and complicates the story (in a good way), including Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio as the bumbling men in black, and Jason Bateman as the scary man in black. Also passing through are some fun familiar faces like Jane Lynch, David Koechner, Jeffrey Tambor, John Carroll Lynch, and an iconic sci-fi actress who shall remain unnamed. Especially good is Kristen Wiig as a fundamentalist Christian whose mind is literally blown by Paul. Amid the broad humour and nonstop punch lines there's also a sweetness that stays with each finely drawn character (including Paul) and gives Paul an amiable sentimentality that runs throughout. Everyone clearly had fun making this movie, and that's exactly how it is to watch. --Ted Fry

• Sorry to Bother You (DVD) | DVD | (15/04/2019) from £4.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory. As Green's career begins to take off, his friends and co-workers organize a protest against corporate oppression. Cassius soon falls under the spell of Steve Lift, a cocaine-snorting CEO who offers him a salary beyond his wildest dreams.

• Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine 4K UHD Steelbook (Deadpool) | Blu Ray | (04/11/2024) from £34.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Marvel Studios presents their most signifcant mistake yet. His days as Deadpool behind him, a listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life. But when his homeworld is threatened, he reluctantly suits up as he tries to convince Wolverine oh hell, just watch. Finding Madonna: Making the Oner, Practical Approach: Celebrating the Art Of Ray Chan, Loose Ends: The Legacy Heroes, Wolverine, Deadpool's Fun Sack 3 Dr. Deadpool, Deadpool's Fun Sack 3 Product Review, Deadpool's Fun Sack 3 Wade Is Back, Gag Reel, Deleted Scenes, Audio Commentary By Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds

• The Royle Family | DVD | (15/05/2006) from £10.00   |  Saving you £29.99 (299.90%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Sit down put your feet up light a fag and join Britain's first family in their sitting room for the complete three series of The Royle Family! The Royle Family is a real-life comedy set in a Manchester council house. Imagine a secret camera placed in the living room of an average working class family. The intense drama and emotions of everyday life such as whose turn it is to go to the off-licence is set against the continuous hum of the television. The rosy hue of their life is yellowed only by a nicotine haze. Series 1: 1. Bills Bills Bills 2. Making Ends Meet 3. Sunday Afternoon 4. Jim's Birthday 5. Another Woman? 6. The Wedding Day Series 2: 1. Pregnancy 2. Sunday Lunch 3. Nana's Coming To Stay 4. Nana's Staying! 5. Barbara's Finally Had Enough Series 3: 1. Hello Baby Dave 2. Babysitting Again 3. Decorating 4. Elise Funeral 5. Antony's Going To London 6. The Christening Also includes the 1999 and 2000 Christmas Special episodes!

• Pink Panther | DVD | (17/07/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Inspector Jacques Clouseau returns to the big screen in the form of Steve Martin.