Car Trouble

Dir: David Green

1986

**

David Green's Car Trouble has a good story at heart, it's just that everything gets bogged down by the idea that all British comedies had to adhere to the outdated rules of the previous decade. It isn't without its charm and both Julie Walters and Ian Charleston are great together, it is just that the film as a whole is more of a farcical farce, rather than just the simple farce it was supposed to be. The premise is simple; Flight controller Gerald has a mid-life crisis, buys a bright red sports car and obsesses over it and thus ignores his wife Jacqueline who of course goes on to have an affair, with the car salesmen of all people. It is silly, ridiculous and a little bit insulting. Everyone knows that, as well as not being trustworthy, women can't drive, so the film ends up with a smashed car, an angry husband and a case of Penis captivus. The original 80s poster was brilliant, Charleston is standing on top of the back half of his 1965 E-Type Jaguar that has been split in two, wielding a lit blow torch and looking rather angry, while the glamorous Julie Walters lays in the back seat, with a mysterious pair of legs wrapped around her, with a yellow sky background. It could/should have been a 80s classic, and in the right hands it probably would have been but it all gets a little bit too dark for the film's early tone. You could overlook a lot of the somewhat insulting content but the laughter didn't quite flow during the wife beating and the attempts at mass murder. I liked the darker aspects but it didn't suit the story whatsoever, or at least they were badly realized by the script and director, the actors were quite capable but it just didn't work. It should have gone full dark in my opinion and aimed for cult status, a few changes would have sealed his but instead it went for a rather unconvincing happy ending. A classic low-budget 80s comedy not living up to its poster.