Come Fly With Me (2010-2011) - Review
Starring: David Walliams & Matt Lucas
Written By: David Walliams, Matt Lucas, Kevin Cecil & Andy Riley
Directed By: Paul King
Certificate: 15
Whenever
I think of some of the comedy brought out in the 00s, I remember just
how much good stuff it had to offer. While not a patch on some of the
shows offered in the decades before it, it still produced some of my
favourites, including The Thick Of It,
The Catherine Tate Show,
Not Going Out and
The Armstrong & Miller Show.
And of course we had David Walliams' and Matt Lucas's incredibly
popular and successful Little Britain.
To this day it still has a huge fanbase, and at Christmas 2010, we
saw their follow-up project: Come Fly With Me.
So can it compare to their previous successes, or is it more of a
shallow imitation?
Come
Fly With Me
is a mockumentary sketch series that follows the activities at a
fictional airport, and its fictional airlines. David Walliams and
Matt Lucas play the roles of many of the recurring characters over
the series, including the pilots, check-in staff, executives,
paparazzi, air stewards etc. The series often exaggerates and makes
spoofs of the stereotypes of people who work different careers in the
airline industries.
I
think perhaps the biggest difference between Come Fly With Me
and Little Britain lies with its tone and
presentation. While I do love Little Britain, Come
Fly With Me feels like a slightly more consistent series
overall, and feels as though Matt Lucas and David Walliams' comedy
style has grown up and matured a little bit. The mockumentary
presentation style really suits them, and Lindsay Duncan does an
excellent at tying it together as a graceful, softly-spoken narrator.
Many of the best laughs and jokes the series has to offer are also
the ones that are played straight, such as when the customs officers
end up stopping David Schwimmer; the racist immigration officer Ian
Foot; or the snobbish first class stewardess Penny preparing for a
royal visit from Princess Anne.
But
even though Come Fly With Me feels like a somewhat more
grown-up series, that isn't to say it's not silly or funny. There's
still sketches that feel naughty or juvenile to be watching, but that
will still make you laugh, and one of the things I found was really
well managed was just how well the airport setting was used. The
series benefits hugely from being able to film at actual airports, as
well as director Paul King being able to accurately imitate the
camerawork that's frequently seen on more serious travel
documentaries. There's not much holding back when it comes to royally
taking the p*** out of the stereotypes or less attractive aspects of
the airline industry either. Whether it's incredibly camp air
stewards, baggage handlers that regularly steal things out of the
luggage, or even a whole episode that's dedicated to seeing what
happens when staff go on strike, there's some nice satire and
exaggerated parody to be found here.
Come
Fly With Me
also gives Matt Lucas and David Walliams their chance to shine and to
remind everyone just how much variety they have as comedy actors.
They really can pull off almost any of the characters they create –
from Liverpudlian check-in girls, a Jamaican coffee shop kiosk
manager, or even a flamboyant Arab airline owner. Admittedly some of
them feel a little interchangeable with the kind of characters they
created in Little Britain,
but generally speaking, there's enough here to distinguish the two
from each other.
However,
that isn't to say that every character works to full effect. Some
such as Tommy, the Happy Burger worker, or the historical battle re-enactors
aren't some of the best the series has to offer, and it feels like
they're there to pad out the runtime. In fact, there are a number of
times where Come Fly With Me falls
into this trap, stretching out a sketch with just one or two proper
jokes to offer in order to increase the runtime. If a character or
sketch doesn't work the rest of the time, then it's usually because
it oversteps the mark a little. Come Fly With Me
received quite a few complaints that some of its characters were
racist, with a lot of criticism aimed at Matt Lucas playing the
Jamaican coffee kiosk manager, Precious. Personally, I didn't have
much of a problem with this – the Japanese schoolgirls played by
Lucas and Walliams felt far more offensive in my opinion. The fact
that it was in the first episode, which was broadcast on Christmas
Day, only served to make the problem stand out even more.
It
may be far from perfect, but I'm generally able to have a decent
laugh with Come Fly With Me.
It's not up there with the likes of Little Britain,
nor is it a comedy classic, but it's solid six episodes of naughty,
inappropriate and cheeky fun. This review has been a fair bit shorter
than my usual ones, for which I apologize, but really there's not
much else for me to say, other than Come Fly With Me
might well be worth checking
out.
Come Fly With Me
7/10