Sex Lives of the Potato Men
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''Sex Lives of the Potato Men'' is a 2004 British sex comedy film, written and directed by Andy Humphries. The film is about the sexual antics of a group of
potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
delivery men in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
and stars
Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, overweight appearance, angry comedic rants, and us ...
and
Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones ...
. ''Sex Lives of the Potato Men'' has been called one of the worst films of all time.


Cast

*
Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, overweight appearance, angry comedic rants, and us ...
as Dave *
Mackenzie Crook Paul James "Mackenzie" Crook (born 29 September 1971) is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in ''The Office'', Ragetti in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, Orell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones ...
as Ferris *
Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', ''Sherlock (TV series), Sherlock'', and ''Dracu ...
as Jeremy *Annette Bentley as Linda *
Julia Davis Julia Charlotte L. Davis (born 25 August 1966) is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy '' Nighty Night'' (2004–2005) and the comedies ''Hunderby'' (2012–2015) and ...
as Shelley *
Lucy Davis Lucy Clare Davis (born 17 February 1973) is an English actress best known for playing Dawn Tinsley in the BBC comedy ''The Office'' (2001–2003). She is also known for her roles as Hilda Spellman in the Netflix series '' The Chilling Adven ...
as Ruth *Evie Garratt as Joan's Mum *Robert Harrison as Kevin *
Nick Holder Nick Holder (born 1969) is an underground hip-hop and house music deejay and producer from Toronto, Ontario. Holder began DJing in the early 1980s, and soon became influenced by the Detroit techno scene and DJs such as Derrick May and Carl Cra ...
as Gordon * Dominic Coleman as Tolly * Lee Tunbridge as blonde guy in group sex scene *Barry Aird as Gherkin Man *Joy Aldridge as Sauna Woman *
Jeff Alexander Jeff Alexander (born Myer Goodhue Alexander; July 2, 1910 – December 23, 1989) was an American conductor, arranger, and composer of film, radio and television scores. Early years Born in Seattle, Washington, Alexander began performing in hi ...
as Bloke *
Adrian Chiles Adrian Chiles (born 21 March 1967) is a British writer and television and radio presenter. He has co-presented both ''The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–2011) with Christine Lampard. He was also the chief presenter for foo ...
as Towel man *Amerjit Deu as Doctor * Justin Edgar as Chip Shop Customer *Huss Garbiya as Beans *Carol Harvey as Chip Shop Girl *Alfie Hunter as Matthew *Laurence Inman as Bored Bloke * Jenny Jay as Coma Woman/Helen *Ceris Jones as Poppy's Brother * Helen Latham as Chip Shop Girl *
Kay Purcell Kay Purcell (6 December 1963 – 23 December 2020) was an English actress. She was known for her roles as Cynthia Daggert in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' (2001–2002), Candice Smilie in the school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (20 ...
as Gloria *
Nicola Reynolds Nicola Jane Reynolds (born 26 July 1972, Pontypridd) is a Cardiff-based Welsh actress. Career After appearing in the 1999 film ''Human Traffic,'' she appeared in a series of jobbing roles, including ''Clocking Off'' and '' High Hopes''. Reyno ...
as Poppy *
Kate Robbins Kate Elizabeth Robbins (born 21 August 1958) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. She came to prominence in the early 1980s when she scored a top ten single on the UK Official Charts with "More Than in Love", while she was appearing in t ...
as Joan *Angela Simpson as Vicky *Nicholas Tennant as Phil *Betty Trew as Katie


Critical reception

Critics disliked the film intensely. The film has a 0% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 2.1/10. James Christopher of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' called it "one of the two most nauseous films ever made". Writer Antonia Quirke, writing for the ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'', called it "mirthless, worthless, toothless, useless".Critics Pan "Worst Film Ever"
Sky News, 23 February 2004. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
Kevin O'Sullivan in the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' called it "one of the worst films ever made".
Peter Bradshaw Peter Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...
in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' 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". Catherine Shoard, in a review of the film in ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'', 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 ''Confessions of a Window Cleaner'' is a 1974 British sex comedy film, directed by Val Guest.Leach, p.132 Like the other films in the ''Confessions'' series; ''Confessions of a Pop Performer'', '' Confessions of a Driving Instructor'' and ''C ...
'', and certainly the worst". Shoard also described the film as "Less a film than an appetite suppressant". 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". One of the few positive reviews for ''Sex Lives of the Potato Men'' came from Mark Adams in the '' Sunday Mirror'', who wrote that "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." It was also controversial in that nearly £1 million of public money from the National Lottery via the
UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...
was used to fund the project. Nigel Andrews in the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' criticised the use of lottery funding for the film. 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'', and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'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". The '' Birmingham Post'' described it as "quite possibly the worst film ever made", while the ''
Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' stated that the film was "a strong contender for the title of worst film of all time". Donald Clarke of ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' stated that "''Sex Lives of the Potato Men'' attracted some of the worst reviews in living memory". The film magazine ''
Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' placed it at no. 7 in its list of "The 50 Worst Movies Ever".The 50 Worst Movies Ever
''Empire''.


See also

*
List of films considered the worst The films listed below have been cited by a variety of notable critics in varying media sources as being among the worst films ever made. Examples of such sources include Metacritic, Roger Ebert's list of most-hated films, ''The Golden Turkey ...


References


External links

* *{{Amg movie, 301993, Sex Lives of the Potato Men
Sex Lives of the Potato Men
at
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

If it's too smutty, you're too snooty
article in ''The Guardian'' in which writer/director Andy Humphries answers the criticism of the film. Retrieved on 30-11-2006 2004 films British comedy films Films set in England 2004 comedy films 2004 directorial debut films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films