Kevin & Perry Go Large

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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Comedy Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio and Animation
Dolby Digital Trailer - Rain
Menu Audio
Cast and Crew Interviews (17:02)
Teaser Trailer - 1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (0:49)
Theatrical Trailer - 1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (1:36)
Featurette - Ibiza Dance Master Class (1:03)
Featurette - Secrets Of The Floater (2:14)
Featurette - Kevin's Guide To Being A Teenager (54:50)
Featurette - The Unfair World Of Kevin & Perry (6:13)
Audio Commentary - Harry Enfield (Star/Writer/Producer), David Cummings (Writer) and Ed Bye (Director)
Rating
Year Released 2000
Running Time 79:36 minutes
RSDL/Flipper RSDL (74:48)
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 4 Director Ed Bye
Studio
Distributor
Icon Entertainment 
Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Harry Enfield 
Kathy Burke 
Rhys Ifans 
Case Transparent C-Button Version 1
RPI $34.95 Music Various

 
 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame No English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 448 Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 224 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision Yes Smoking Yes
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Annoying Product Placement Yes, several obvious ones
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    Well my luck holds true and I get to review another example of fine British toilet humour! Now if you do not like your humour to be of such style, then you may as well give up reading right now and move on, for this DVD is definitely not up your alley at all. If you have no objection to eighty minutes of toilet humour, British style, then keep on reading 'cause this is well worth it! Certainly comparisons with the ilk of Guest House Paradiso are inevitable and if you like that film, then there is a fair chance that you will enjoy this one. Utterly silly, utterly puerile but bloody good fun.

    Kevin (Harry Enfield) and his best mate Perry (Kathy Burke) are two fairly dysfunctional teenagers. They harbour thoughts of being great DJs as well as possessing a desperate need to pop their cherries before they become ancient (which pretty much means about 18). There is little success on the home front and the best that they get is Kevin sharing a bed with a drunken lass at a party they have gatecrashed. Naturally Kevin brags about having shagged her. As desperation mounts, they hatch the grand idea of going to Ibiza since all DJs go to Ibiza for summer and all the girls shag like crazy. And so Kevin puts the touch on his parents as only a teenager can, and eventually they crumble - it is off to Ibiza for all four of them. Yes, Mr Patterson (James Fleet) and Mrs Patterson (Louisa Rix) are coming too. Did I mention that Perry has a serious infatuation with Mrs Patterson? Ibiza turns out to be not quite what Kevin and Perry expected and things do not quite go to plan. But they do meet the girls of their dreams, they do meet their DJ idol Eye Ball Paul (Rhys Ifans) and eventually things work out pretty well for all concerned - except maybe for Eye Ball Paul.

    No great shakes in the story department, that is for sure. But puerile gutter humour does not require much in the way of story - what it needs is plenty of opportunity for insertion of the usual things: vomit, turds and the joke. The joke in this instance is the old fashioned boner. No one here is going to win an Academy Award, although Kathy Burke probably deserves one for the pain she endured having her breasts strapped down in order to play Perry. The budget here was fairly obviously not that big, but those pounds were reasonably well spent. Ed Bye does a pretty serviceable job in bringing the film some sort of direction without allowing it to sink beneath a pile of gutter jokes, but this is hardly likely to be confused with something from Steven Spielberg.

    If you are aware of the television show Harry Enfield and Chums, then you have a rough idea whether this is to your taste or not. For a bit of mindless entertainment for eighty minutes, I have no real complaints and it is the sort of dumb film you can throw on with a reasonable degree of assurance of a couple of laughs. This is not highbrow humour, far from it and as long as you remember this and leave the brain in neutral, you will probably have some fun.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Roadshow Home Entertainment generally give us some good transfers and this one is no exception. Whilst the lack of sizeable budget obviously is reflected in certain aspects of the transfer, this appears to be a virtually flawless transfer of the available source material.  The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    The source material contains some scenes that have somewhat reduced sharpness and detail, and this obviously carries over to the video transfer. Whilst I would not call this a super sharp transfer, it is a very nicely sharp transfer that comes over very well. There is a fair degree of detail on offer, especially during the club scenes which really form the focus of the film. Shadow detail could have been a tad better but there is nothing really hidden by lack of detail. This is a nicely clear transfer throughout and there is no real indication of grain other than perhaps during the nightclub scenes.

    This is not the most vibrant and colourful transfer I have ever seen in general, but again this reflects both the source material and the style of the film. It certainly is not a dull film but only occasionally does the vibrancy really get up to the attention-grabbing stage. This is usually when there are some bright colours on offer, such as the lawn early in the film. Overall, there seems to be a very natural feel to the palette of colours on offer here, and there is nothing that I would complain about. There is some slight oversaturation during the red lit scene between 32:00 and 33:00, but nothing really major and nothing that gets ugly enough to object to since it is probably source material related. There is no indication of colour bleed in the transfer. At times the transfer is a little dark, most especially during the opening sequences, but this would seem to be a source material issue and not a transfer issue.

    There did not appear to be any significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There are no obvious film-to-video artefacts in the transfer. There are no real film artefacts in the transfer either, mainly just a couple of obligatory flecks that are barely there.

    This is an RSDL formatted DVD with the layer change coming very late in the film at 74:48. This is actually during the closing credits and whilst it is a little noticeable, it certainly is not liable to disrupt the viewing experience.
 
 

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two soundtracks on offer on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and an English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded soundtrack. I listened to both soundtracks.

    The dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand throughout, bearing in mind that the whole film is evoking the feeling of fifteen year olds. This means that there is a degree of mumbling that does require a bit more concentration than usual to follow. There does not appear to be any problem with audio sync in the transfer.

    There is no score as such in the film, but rather an extensive collection of dance tracks compiled under the eye of music consultant Judge Jules. Whilst the music is not my usually preferred fare, it has to be said that there is some really good dance music here and I am willing to bet that cranking this one up to eleven will annoy the heck out of the neighbours. Good stuff.

    Naturally dance music needs a big sound and that is what we get here. There is nothing really subtle about this soundtrack and it does rock pretty well when needed, which makes it all the more disappointing that the rear channels drop out completely in the mix at 34:06 and what was some really rocking club music at the time goes distinctly softer. Thankfully this seems to be only a temporary issue and the rear channels are back in the next club scene, but it is a bit disappointing and also a tad unusual for this minor glitch to occur. Beyond that, we get plenty of use out of the bass channel, plenty of use out of the surround channels and a seriously rocking soundtrack when it needs to be. During the non-dance club scenes, the nicely open soundtrack conveys the dialogue and other activity well.
 
 

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Another decently loaded effort from Roadshow Home Entertainment here, which given the film is a little unexpected. However, quantity seems to have been the name of the game rather than quality.

Menu

    After a decent introduction, we have the usual 16x9 enhanced 1.85:1 aspect ratio menus that we love from this source. Some nice audio and animation enhancement at times, the presentation could have perhaps been a little more distinctive, but overall these are pretty decent efforts. The main menu features Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded sound, which is a tad unusual.

Dolby Digital Trailer - Rain

    It is so nice to see the variety of Dolby Digital trailers on Roadshow Home Entertainment DVDs!

Cast and Crew Interviews

    If played all together they total 17:02 in length. Unfortunately they are not integral interviews but are interview snippets with question boards between each short segment. This is not a terrific form of presentation and an integral interview would be much preferred. Decent enough quality in these Full Frame format efforts that are not 16x9 enhanced and come with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The interview snippets with Harry Enfield suffer somewhat from grain, but there are no other problems here.

Teaser Trailer (0:49)

    Unmercifully, and rather funnily, ripping off The Blair Witch Project, this is a very worthy inclusion in the package. presented in non 16x9 enhanced Full Frame format, and coming with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Technically speaking, there is nothing wrong with this one.

Theatrical Trailer (1:36)

    A reasonably typical trailer that suffers somewhat from being a little too dark. Presented in Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Not really representative of the film quality itself, it is a pity that something a little better looking was not available.

Featurette - Ibiza Dance Master Class (1:03)

    Basically just a short demonstration of the dance steps used during the club scene by our erstwhile friends. Hardly the most essential thing that I have ever seen and pretty much just filling up some space in my view. Presented in Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Featurette - Secrets Of The Floater (2:14)

    A short demonstration of how the main special effects were done, with the words special effects being used a little lightly! Another hardly essential inclusion unless you have a real need to know how they did the exploding zits. Presented in Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Featurette - Kevin's Guide To Being A Teenager (54:50)

    Pretty much an excuse to use excerpts from the television series from which the main characters have taken the leap onto the big screen. Presented in Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Actually well worth while checking this one out as it is a fairly insightful look at that demon known as the teenager! And, it has some very funny moments too!

Featurette - The Unfair World Of Kevin & Perry (6:13)

    What broadly passes for an EPK behind the scenes featurette, comprising some interview segments (already seen in the collection above) with some excerpts from the film and some behind the scenes footage. Nothing especially memorable here, as is usual for these EPK styled efforts. Presented in Full Frame format, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Audio Commentary - Harry Enfield (Star/Writer/Producer), David Cummings (Writer) and Ed Bye (Director)

    Not an especially wonderful effort at all in my view. Apart form the fact that they tend not to have much to say, a lot of it is a tad disjointed and also pretty much in the gutter humour category. We may not be talking a classic film here, but I would have expected a far more entertaining and energetic effort than what we have. Disappointing.

Censorship

    As far as we have been able to ascertain, there are no censorship issues with this title.

R4 vs R1

    As far as we have been able to ascertain, this has not yet been scheduled for a release in Region 1.

Summary

    Well I certainly never expect to see Kevin & Perry Go Large hitting the Internet Movie Database Top 250 films of all time, but who cares? I sure don't, but what I do care about is the fact that this is an entertaining eighty minutes of British gutter humour of the sort that I love for a evening's mindless viewing. Given an almost exemplary DVD transfer in most respects, and an extras package that is perhaps far more extensive in quantity if not quality than the film deserves, if the film style is to your taste then heck this one out.
 
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
8th April, 2001

Review Equipment
DVD Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built in
Amplification Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL