Dave Allen at Peace (2018)

I'm sure Dave Allen would have approved of the humour of Aiden "Littlefinger" Gillen playing him, but unfortunately Aiden didn't quite manage to portray his mischievous humour, but then who could? The film showed his childhood influences, but seemed to skip quickly through his early days, not mentioning his early days in Australia and his marriages and children. A good attempt, but could have delved deeper!

I watched this hour-long potted dramatisation of the life and times of Irish comedian Dave Allen immediately after viewing a real-life TV biography of the man which probably wasn't the best preparation. I was a big fan of Allen's TV series of the early 70's particularly "Dave Allen At Large" using a format of sketches (some of which today might seem un-P.C.) and stand-up or should that be sit-down comedy. Allen regularly sent-up his native country's Catholic religion, often provoking the ire of his countrymen, to the extent where he even received death threats for lampooning the Pope, most (in)famously in a sketch where the holy father disrobes to "The Stripper" by David Rose.As much a blarney-spinner as a pure joke-teller, Allen's laconic style, drink within reach on the one hand, cigarette in the other, saw him stand out from the older-fashioned variety-show type comics of the same era, like "Morecambe and Wise" or "The Two Ronnies", in short, he had an edge, even once swearing on air to enhance a joke's punchline.The narrative here concentrates on Allen's relationship with his free-spirited, newspaper editor father who died when he was only 12 and his older brother whose later life revolves around alcohol dependancy. However, given that his mother outlived his father and he himself was married twice, it's strange that the show makes almost no reference to the women in his life. It also wasn't helped by lightweight lead actor Aiden Gillan's marked dissimilarity to the real Allen as well as his complete inability to get even close to Allen's distinctive accent. There were actually scenes with more than one character present where I couldn't pick him out as Allen.The jump-starting narrative sidelined into well-known Allen sketches and monologues but none were delivered as crisply as in the original TV show. In the end, it seemed, certainly from the real life bio, that Dave Allen had a full and rewarding life. Unlike other comedic talents he seemed less driven by demons which probably helped constrain this over-respectful yet still misfiring telling of his story. Oh and I still can't work out the relevance of the show's title unless I'm missing something.

Dave Allen will forever be one of the funniest men to grace a stage, a true comic genius, perhaps a little before his time.This dramatisation helped to give a little back story, perhaps explain the motivation in some of his humour, and provide plenty of laughs with the sketches. Very well acted, Aiden Gillen was genuinely superb as the legendary comic, doing great justice.At times it was a little disjointed, and didn't perhaps flow as has been the usual with these biopic dramas, when you think of ones for Frankie Howerd, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor, each had a beginning, middle and end, this one was a little clunky in terms of flow. It didn't seem to matter though as it was interesting and funny, like the great man himself.Whimsical rather then informative. A fun watch.

A comedy genius with an incredible story ruined by a simplistic telling. Performances by Aidan Gillan, Ely Solan, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Senan Jennings were great but also ruined by the flashbacks and flash forwards. A great story ruined by the production