Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (2001)

This was an absolutely shocking surprise hit for me. I watched it last night and cannot believe that it passed me by for nigh on 9 years.From the outset I was belly laughing at it. The plot was completely surreal and I was amazed that the whole story of Harold was lapped up and accepted by people.This is one indie movie that needs to be bigger. Trainspotting was the benchmark for how a British movie should be made, but this one moved the bar. It has just completely trashed my "top 5" of movies and I cannot fault one part of the film. I just want to sit in front of my TV and watch it again and again.The cast was perfect. All characters were realistic, and it was just pure entertainment from start to end. I insist that you see it NOW!

SPOILERS Always an amusement, generations will always tell each other how great an era was. Whether a man truly thrives as a hippy in the 1960s or whether he's a punk in the 1970s, the one thing which can nearly always be seen is that he remembers that time fondly. It's films like "Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?" which try to latch onto this. Giving a strong impression that writer Ben Steiner grew up as a Disco Enthusiast in the 1970s, the film has raised questions about accuracy. Punks might complain about the strong criticism of them, but whether the film is accurate, or whether it's ridiculously one sided, the one thing which should not be questioned is that you'll come out of this film feeling cheerful.Harold Smith (Tom Courtenay) is a family man who likes to watch television and never causes anyone any trouble. With a constantly cheating wife (Lulu), a magician son (Matthew Rhys) and a younger son in love (Michael Legge), Smith seems to leave a relatively normal life. This changes however when it is discovered that Smith possesses magical powers and becomes a figure of media curiosity.Told from the point of view of younger son Vince (Legge), "Whatever Happened to Harold Smith" is a great film which is deep down really about following your dreams and being happy. In love with punk fan Joanna (Laura Fraser), Vince spends the film trying to win the girl whilst finding himself in a era when people seemed to be either punks or disco fans. Whilst the story has minor subplots (Stephen Fry's change from science into religion is brilliant), it's this idea that we should never be afraid to fight for what we want which really makes us smile.In majority, the cast performs adequately. Legge, Courtney and Fraser shine, whilst James Corden as Legge's friend Walter is at times superb. All in all, the only real criticism in the acting is Lulu. Whilst an acceptable musician in a time gone by, sadly Lulu has never really been much good at acting, and in this film she confirms it with a vague performance as Courtney's cheating wife.Any film which has a soundtrack containing disco and punk is going to sound questionable. Somehow though, "Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?" manages this easily. Switching from the high pitched tones of the BeeGees through to the heavier tones of the Clash, the film succeeds in playing songs by most of the major artists of the time. On a personal note, it's finest soundtrack moment is when towards the end we witness a punk band joining into a well known BeeGees song. This should be awful and it should be shocking, but the band manages to put just enough instrumental into it that we get a superb little scene which lasts in the memory.If you weren't there, you aren't going to know how truly accurate this film is. For some it might be a nice reflection of a time they loved, whilst for others it might be completely false and insulting. As a film though, the plot is designed to leave a smile on the face and it manages this rather well, whether historically accurate or not.

If you want to see what the seventies where really like, check this out and avoid TV dramas like Days Like These! An enjoyable film though not as funny as it thinks it is,or could have been. Still nice to know that reasonable British films can be made without obviously appearing to the American market. Worth a look

I had the opportunity of seeing this film at the London Film Festival and as I grew up in the 1970s, it seemed like an interesting premise.Sadly, 'Whatever Happened to Harold Smith' is another in a long line of British cinema disasters and is destined to be lambasted by the critics and ignored by the public.The makers of this film are so lazy that they feel that stringing together a bunch of cultural references around a shallow and uninteresting story and adding a big soundtrack is enough for a surefire success. Well, despite the ridiculously sycophantic applause of Saturday night's audience, the release in February or March will illustrate that this is simply not good enough.The performances are passable although Stephen Fry does little more than play himself and the lead actor is so inconsequential that I can barely remember his performance.However, it is the cultural references that really grate - these include a car painted like Starsky and Hutch's, not one but two examples of Hai Karate adverts, a ridiculous take off of the opening of Saturday Night Fever and a variety of newsreaders from the period clearly appearing 20 years too old. It's remarkable that they didn't manage to squeeze spangles in somewhere.However, the single worst thing about this film is the way that it portrays punks as criminals or deadbeats. Having been a disaffected youth into this music myself, I don't recognise these characters at all and this moral line on a little rebellion leaves a very nasty taste indeed.