Sex Lives of the Potato Men

Sex Lives of the Potato Men

DVD cover
Directed by Andy Humphries
Produced by Anita Overland
Written by Andy Humphries
Starring Johnny Vegas
Mackenzie Crook
Mark Gatiss
Dominic Coleman
Music by Super Preachers
Cinematography Andy Collins
Edited by Guy Bensley
Distributed by Entertainment Films
Release dates
  • 20 February 2004 (2004-02-20)
Running time
85 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Sex Lives of the Potato Men is a British comedy film released in 2004. The film is about the sexual antics of a group of potato delivery men in Birmingham and stars Johnny Vegas and Mackenzie Crook.

Sex Lives of the Potato Men has been called one of the worst films of all time.

Cast

Critical reception

The film received extremely negative reviews from film critics. The Times review called it "one of the two most nauseous films ever made"[1] and Christopher Tookey in The Daily Mail called it "the most shamefully inept, witless and repulsive British comedy that I have ever had the misfortune to see".[2] Writer Will Self, writing for The Evening Standard, called it "mirthless, worthless, toothless, useless", while Johnny Vaughan in The Sun stated in his review: "The mind boggles as to how this movie actually got made."[3] Kevin O'Sullivan in The Daily Mirror called it "one of the worst films ever made".[4] Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian wrote, "it's a film which isn't in the slightest bit funny or sexy, and is deeply depressing. It also diminishes the reputation of many excellent TV comics, who are made to look tawdry and naff up there on the big screen in an echoing cinema".[5] Catherine Shoard, in a review of the film in The Sunday Telegraph, stated "It's hard to know what to say to this - it's like finding the right words at a nasty accident... Sex Lives of the Potato Men is probably the lewdest Brit-com since Confessions of a Window Cleaner, and certainly the worst". Shoard also described the film as "Less a film than an appetite suppressant". [6] Ben Davis in the Morning Star later included Sex Lives of the Potato Men on his list of "some of the year's worst films". [7]

One of the few positive reviews for Sex Lives of the Potato Men came from Mark Adams in the Sunday Mirror, who stated "Vegas and Crook are a sleazy dream-team and brilliantly cast as the soft-core spud men... After several pints and a curry it could be the lads’ film of the year." [8]

It was also controversial in that nearly £1 million of public money from the National Lottery via the UK Film Council was used to fund the project.[9] Nigel Andrews in the Financial Times criticised the use of lottery funding for the film.[3]

Years after the film was released, Sex Lives of the Potato Men was still being described by film critics as an unusually bad film. Hostile critics include Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian,[10] and the BBC's Mark Kermode, who described the film as "absolutely, indescribably horrible, vulgar, stupid, tawdry, depressing, embarrassing, filthy, vile, stinky, repugnant, slimy, unclean, nasty, degenerative and mind-numbing".[11] The Birmingham Post described it as "quite possibly the worst film ever made",[12] while The Independent on Sunday stated that the film was "a strong contender for the title of worst film of all time".[13] Donald Clarke of The Irish Times stated that "Sex Lives of the Potato Men attracted some of the worst reviews in living memory". [14] The film magazine Empire placed it at no. 7 in its list of "The 50 Worst Movies Ever".[15]

The film currently has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes out of 13 reviews.[16]

See also

References

  1. "Sex Lives of the Potato Men", Review by James Christopher, TimesOnline, 19 February 2004
  2. Christopher Tookey, Named and Shamed: The World's Worst and Wittiest Movie Reviews from Affleck to Zeta-Jones. Troubador Publishing Ltd, 2010 ISBN 1848765606, (p. 142).
  3. 1 2 Critics Pan "Worst Film Ever" Sky News, 23 February 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  4. Kevin O'Sullivan, The Daily Mirror, 5 March 2004, (p.14)
  5. Review: Sex Lives of the Potato Men The Guardian, 20 February 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  6. Catherine Shoard, The Sunday Telegraph, 22 February 2004.
  7. Ben Davis, The Morning Star, 31 December 2004.
  8. Mark Adams, The Sunday Mirror, 22 February 2004.
  9. Sex comedy film grant criticised BBC News online. Retrieved 03-02-2007
  10. "Twelve film-lovers pick their most hated movies of all time". the Guardian.
  11. "Mark Kermode". TV.com. CBS Interactive.
  12. Mike Davies, The Birmingham Post, 24 April 2008 (p. 13).
  13. Matthew Bell, Independent on Sunday, 8 February 2009, (p. 42).
  14. Donald Clarke, "Out of Office:Interview with Mackenzie Crook". "The Ticket" Magazine, The Irish Times, 25 April 2008, (p.6).
  15. The 50 Worst Movies Ever Empire Magazine.
  16. "The Sex Lives of the Potato Men". rottentomatoes.com. 6 July 2010.

External links

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