I've been to several Dave Kirby-written shows at the Royal Court in the past - 'Council Depot Blues' (excellent), and 'Brick Up the Mersey Tunnels' (co-written with Nicky Allt; great). I've even seen his 'Fifteen Minutes that shook the world' DVD (excruciating, although as a blue I probably wasn't the target audience). So I'm familiar with his work, and the style of his writing. I really like Andrew Schofield (best actor to never be on telly nowadays), and both Lindzi Germain and Paul Duckworth are very funny performers too. So I kind of knew what to expect, and feel it makes me qualified to give my thoughts on the DVD.
I'll be honest straight away - I didn't like it. There were some very funny moments during the 79 minutes running time (Kenny on the trampoline, Dixie's antics involving Anfield), but ultimately, the toe-curling awfulness parts overpowered the best bits.
The worst thing was.... I genuinely do not think the 'banter' and the 'portrayals' were as fair and as 'even-handed' as has been made out by Kirby in the publicity for the DVD.
Both the Blue, Dixie (Duckworth) and the Red, Kenny (Schofield) characters are portrayed as pathetic. The Blue is the self-professed 'bitter', but the Red is also equally 'bitter'. However, the Red is funnier, has the better lines and scenes, and is only 'bitter' because he finds it funny winding up the Blue. There is no real reason for his bitterness, and it's portrayed as light-hearted banter that maybe oversteps the mark. He has his 'Red' son aiding and abetting him, between them the Reds keep trying to convert the Blues' son to the dark side. How funny.
Dixie's 'bitterness' is portrayed a lot more darkly. He seems psychotic at times, he's always the one who fires the first shot. Ultimately he is portrayed as jealous of Liverpool's success, as if Everton have never had any success of their own. Ironically he seems old enough to have thoroughly enjoyed the 1980s, during our trophy-laden period; so it's not like he's 19 or something and has never seen us do anything.
Kenny just wants to hold a party with his mates, Dixie is the one who's trying to ruin things like a tool. The most annoying thing is the 'battle rap' at the end, where the Reds are going 'Where's your European Cups?' Unsurprisingly, there is no reference to the one thing that would be brought up at this point in 99.9% of situations like this, 'Heysel', presumably on grounds of taste. The film does seem to avoid that topic, which is weird because it embraces every other stereotype going.
Ultimately, I just felt that it never told the full story behind why Dixie was so bitter. It was kind of like listening to your grandad tell you how much he hates the Germans, but only telling you about them stealing the sunbeds early in the morning on holiday, or how they always beat us in international football - not mentioning the real, deep-seated reasons for his hatred of the Germans' i.e. the two World Wars.
It also felt unsatisfying as there was no resolution; clearly this was to leave the door open for a sequel or two, but it would have been more redeeming if there had been some sort of conciliatory gestures made towards each other.
Topic: 'Reds & Blues: The Ballad of Dixie & Kenny' DVD - my thoughts (Read 3869 times)
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