A Bit of Tom Jones? (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Outtakes Theatrical Trailer-x 2
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	90:08
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Peter Watkins-Hughes
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Peter Watkins-Hughes Matt Berry Roger Evans John Henshaw Margaret John Stephen Marzella Eve Myles Jonny Owen Geno Washington Denise Welch
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 mono (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, end credits

     Henry (Jonny Owen), just having been fired from his job, meets a woman in pub who offers to sell him something that will make him a fortune: the severed p**** of Welsh singer Tom Jones. Henry believes this to be a chance of a lifetime but when he surprises his girlfriend (Eve Myles) by arriving with the said member she is less than impressed. So Henry enlists the help of his sleazy mate Teddy (Roger Evans) and they embark upon a quest to find the aptly named Philip the Perve (Matt Berry) and to sell the p**** to the highest bidder. Of course, things are not that simple in the celebrity organ game, and they face complications in the form of a kinky granny into S&M, men in nappies and animal suits, the police, and a collector of “special” items with criminal connections.

     Filmed entirely in Wales, A Bit of Tom Jones? tries to be a quirky comedy but it is only sporadically amusing, frequently very silly and sometimes cringe-worthy. If the sight of middle aged men in nappies with dummies is funny, then this may be the film for you. The film is not graphic, there are some reasonably amusing sequences and Roger Evans, as the sleazy Teddy, gets most of the good lines; the scene where he impersonates a police officer, swapping stories with the police on duty as he and Henry break into a Police Station in search of the said appendage, is not too bad, but the script pushes the sequence further then it needs to go with the introduction of a randy policewoman with her eye on Teddy. Indeed, that seems to be the approach; the film tries too hard and it seems to think that if enough material is thrown on screen, some of it is bound to be funny.

     A Bit of Tom Jones? was a low budget, independent film written and directed by Peter Watkins-Hughes featuring mainly TV actors that was a bit of a hit in Wales. Maybe the humour could have travelled better. The main plot idea, that of hawking Tom Jones’ manhood to the highest bidder, might have sounded hilarious in theory; the execution does not quite match the idea.

Video

     A Bit of Tom Jones? is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. The original theatrical ratio seems to have been 1.85:1.

     This is a low budget independent film that looks pretty good. It is reasonably sharp, colours are natural, blacks solid and shadow detail good. Contrast and brightness do vary somewhat depending upon the lighting source – some sequences can look overbright. I did not notice any obvious marks or scratches, and except for aliasing on the car grille at I saw no other issues.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English LCPM 2.0 at 1536 Kbps. This is a mono track, with all sound in the centre front speaker.

     Dialogue is clear enough, and was never drowned out by effects or music, but this is a film with a number of heavy accents which sometimes makes it difficult to hear what is being said. In addition, there are a number of slang words whose meaning may not be clear to those living outside the Welsh valleys. Music and effects, such as car engines, are acceptable.

     The score was a collection of various tunes.

     Lip synchronization was fine.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Outtakes

     Actually three sections of goofs and outtakes, some quite funny.

• Outtakes (5:03)
• Nannies Naughty Bits (3:11)
• More . . . Nannies Naughty Bits (2:27)

The DVD case promises “scenes too Rude for Cinemas” but these are outtakes, goofs and shaved scenes, not really deleted scenes.

Trailers

     Two theatrical trailers for the film (2:27 and 1:43)

     There does not appear to be a Region 1 US release. The Region 2 UK version seems identical to our all Region release, although it is advertised as having “deleted scenes” which I think are the same as our “outtakes”. No point in going beyond the local release.

     A Bit of Tom Jones? was a low budget, independent Welsh film. The main plot idea, that of hawking Tom Jones’ severed manhood to the highest bidder, might have sounded hilarious in theory but the execution is patchy.

     The audio and video are acceptable; extras are limited.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall