Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break
95 Minutes / Not Rated
Written by Brook Driver, Matthew White, and Nick Gillespie
Directed by Nick Gillespie
Synopsis:
When Paul’s chances of winning a national talent competition are ruined & his dreams of fame slashed, he plans a deathly revenge mission. 1 lunch break, 5 spectacular murders! Will the sparkly suited Paul pull it off & stay 1 step ahead of the cops?
Still digging out from the SXSW Film Festival… sorry, folks.
Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is one of those films that is difficult to explain to an American audience. It’s British, so the sense of humor is just a little bit different from ours… not terribly so, but just different enough for some folks to go, “what?”
Anyways, our titular hero, Paul Dood, is a not-so-talented momma’s boy who’s only dream is to fulfill his mother’s faith in him and win a British online talent competition.
Spoiler alert: he does not win said competition.
He is thwarted just trying to travel from his hometown, after being held up trying to leave work, after realizing he was an entire week wrong in his scheduling of the auditions, and using British public transportation, only to show up too late.
After haranguing the obnoxious host into allowing him to “perform,” Paul is treated to a live-streamed cut-down of epic proportions, only to finally capitulate to defeat when he realizes his mother has died, sitting in her wheelchair, watching him perform… and fail.
Finally home, and suffering a bit of a mental breakdown, Paul decides to avenge himself–and his mother–on those who he perceives cost him everything on that fateful day.
After mentally outlining a series of brutal acts of vengeance, Paul sets his live-stream body-cam and sallies forth.
It does not quite go as he planned it, but suffice it to say, therein lies the silly joy of the film.
The everyman, beaten down by life, the Universe, and those who consider himself his betters, manages to achieve, through no fault of his own, success in its own right.
Some people might tell you Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is only deadly if you watch it.
I disagree. I think, if you’ve even been anyplace but the top of the ladder, you will see a little bit of Paul Dood in yourself, and perhaps, a bit of yourself in Paul Dood.
And that makes his fate a worthwhile watch.
Make no mistake, this isn’t a Citizen Kane or Schindler’s List masterpiece, but it just might make you smile.
And that, my friends, is a worthwhile thing to aspire to.
While the film doesn’t currently seem to have an outlet, keep it in the back of your mind… it’ll be out there soon enough.
Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break stars Tom Meeten, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall, Alice Lowe, Mandeep Dhillon, Johnny Vegas, Steve Oram, Craig Parkinson, Kevin Bishop, and Pippa Haywood.
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