''Faintheart'' is a 2008 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by Vito Rocco and starring

Eddie Marsan Edward Maurice Charles Marsan (born 9 June 1968) is an English actor. He won the London Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' (2008). Early life and ...

Ewen Bremner Ewen Bremner (born 23 January 1972) is a Scottish actor. His roles have included Shawn Nelson in '' Black Hawk Down'', Julien in '' Julien Donkey-Boy'' and Daniel "Spud" Murphy in '' Trainspotting'' and its 2017 sequel '' T2 Trainspotting''. E ...

and

Jessica Hynes Jessica Hynes (''née'' Stevenson) is a British actress, director and writer. Best known as a comedy actress, she has played Cheryl in ''The Royle Family'' (1998–2010), Siobhan Sharpe in ''Twenty Twelve'' (2011–2012) and ''W1A'' (2014–2 ...

. The film's creation was influenced by collaborative input from the

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

community.

Plot

Richard is obsessed with medieval war re-enactment. After he turns up late to his father-in-law's funeral, still wearing Viking costume, his wife Cath kicks him out. Richard's honour is further damaged when Cath starts dating his son's PE teacher, Gary. Richard is desperate to win her back, and attempts to re-enact the circumstances in which the two fell in love. Richard's best friend Julian, who owns a comic book store, is also having romantic problems. Meanwhile, Richard's nerdy son Martin is bullied at school and resents Richard for his embarrassing hobby. Richard's viking troupe performs a display in front of Martin's class. Richard picks Martin out to fight, but Martin hits him with a

quarterstaff A quarterstaff (plural quarterstaffs or quarterstaves), also short staff or simply staff is a traditional European polearm, which was especially prominent in England during the Early Modern period. The term is generally accepted to refer to a s ...

and runs away. Wounded by this rejection, Richard realises he must change. After a heart-to-heart with his Viking friends, Richard cuts off his long hair and apologises at his father-in-law's grave. However, when Martin's young girlfriend expresses an interest in watching medieval re-enactment, Richard rescues his swords from the dump. Meanwhile, Cath realises that Gary looks good but is ugly inside. Julian, who was previously catfished by a small child, finds love with the child's mother Maggie, who loves Star Trek: The Next Generation just as much as he does. Richard joins a huge public display battle between Vikings and Normans. The fight is interrupted by Gary arriving, which results in a duel between Richard and Gary. Martin attempts to intervene, but Cath takes a bow and arrow and forces Gary to retreat. The crowd cheers for Cath and Martin.

Cast

as Richard *

as Julian *

as Cath *

Bronagh Gallagher Bronagh Gallagher (born 26 April 1972) is an Irish singer and actress from Northern Ireland. She had her first acting role in the 1989 television movie '' Dear Sarah''. In 2020, she was listed at number 33 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Irela ...

as Maggie * Tim Healy as Geoff * Paul Nicholls as Gary *

Anne Reid Anne Reid (born 28 May 1935) is an English stage, film and television actress, known for her roles as Valerie Barlow in the soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (1961–1971); Jean in the sitcom '' dinnerladies'' (1998–2000); and her role as C ...

as Barbara Wallace, Richard's mother-in-law * Joseph Hamilton as Martin * Chloe Hesar as Emily, Martin's crush *

Richard Ridings Richard John Ridings (born 19 September 1958) is an English actor. He portrayed Alan Ashburn in the ITV television drama '' Fat Friends'', Mr. Lipa in the Academy Award-nominated World War II drama ''The Pianist'' (2002), Bernard Green in the ...

as Collin * Gary Sefton as Vince *

Kevin Eldon Kevin Eldon (born 2 October 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including ''Fist of Fun'', ''This Morning with Richard Not Judy'', ''Knowing Me Knowing You with Alan Partridge (TV ...

as Alan * Sandra Voe as Julian's mother * Matthew Leighton as Kim * Tom Smith as Danny *

Phil Lester Philip Michael Lester (born 30 January 1987) is an English YouTuber and radio host. He is best known for his YouTube channels ''AmazingPhil'' and ''DanAndPhilGAMES,'' which as of August 2024, have 3.87 million and 2.89 million subscri ...

as Tim * Oscar McDevitt as Pete

Production

The film was written by David Lemon and directed by Vito Rocco. Rocco said:

creenwriter David Lemonmisspent his youth in Southend observing battle re-enactors, I misspent my youth observing am-dram actors in Norfolk; and the Viking heritage combined to make the idea.

''Faintheart'' billed itself as "the world's first user-generated movie". Vertigo Films,

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

and

Film4 Film4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, dedicated to broadcasting films. The standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesa ...

collaborated to form the Myspace Movie Mash Up competition, which offered a £1m budget to aspiring directors. From a shortlist selected by experts, Myspace users chose Vito Rocco as the winning director. Myspace users also auditioned for character roles. More than 1,400 users auditioned, with Rocco choosing 11 non-professional actors to feature in the film. Some crew members were also sourced from Myspace. Users sent in jokes and chose the songs and bands to form the soundtrack. Professional Viking re-enactors from UK-based company " The Vikings" formed part of the cast alongside Britannia Romano-British society. A specialist stunt team from East 15 Acting School took part in filming the large battles under the fight direction of Richard Ryan.

Reception

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

gave the film two out of five stars, writing, "this is not a bad movie, exactly, but it aims curiously low, and is faintly pointless; and while the actors cope well with the material, they are finally just cardboard characters in a balsa-wood plot."

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on ...

gave the film four out of five stars, saying, "it's a totally unexpected hoot...Director Vito Rocco and credited writer David Lemon have done a terrific job in creating one of the most consistently funny and winning Brit-coms of recent years." The

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

review by Chris Tilly was positive.

References

External links