Funny Cow

Last updated

Funny Cow
Funny Cow.png
Directed by Adrian Shergold
Written by Tony Pitts
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTony Slater Ling
Edited byTania Reddin
Music by Richard Hawley
Distributed by eOne
Release dates
  • 9 October 2017 (2017-10-09)(LFF)
  • 20 April 2018 (2018-04-20)(United Kingdom)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Funny Cow is a 2017 British comedy-drama film directed by Adrian Shergold and written by Tony Pitts. The film stars Maxine Peake, Paddy Considine, Tony Pitts, Stephen Graham, and Alun Armstrong. Original songs and score were composed by Richard Hawley, with additional songs by Ollie Trevers. Its plot follows a woman making a name for herself in the stand-up comedy scene of working men's clubs in northern England. [1]

Contents

Funny Cow had its world premiere at the London Film Festival on 9 October 2017, [2] and was released in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2018, by eOne.

Plot

Funny Cow [3] charts the rise to stardom of a female comedian through the 1970s and 1980s. It is set against the backdrop of working men's clubs and the stand-up comedy circuit of the north of England.

Cast

Production

Funny Cow was shot entirely on location in January and February 2017 in Leeds, Bradford, Saltaire and Harrogate. The principal production company was POW Films. Post Production was at Lipsync Post in London and the film was co-produced by Gizmo Films Productions.[ citation needed ]

Reception

Funny Cow received high praise on release with four star reviews from The Guardian , [4] Empire, [5] The Evening Standard, [6] The Financial Times , [7] The Independent , [8] FilmSeekers, [9] Screen Mayhem [10] and with The Times [11] and The Daily Star awarding a full five stars.

BFI magazine Sight and Sound listed Funny Cow as their Film Of The Week. [12] Mark Kermode also made it his Film Of The Week [13] for the April 2018 theatrical release and reviewed it again for the August 2018 DVD release [14] Noting the division in critics' perception of the film and central character, Kermode emphasised that "its heart is absolutely in the right place but I think that is because it is not ashamed to depict the world it is actually representing".[ citation needed ]

The film garnered two BIFA nominations in 2018: [15] Best Actress for Maxine Peake and Best Music for Richard Hawley.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 79%, based on 42 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Funny Cow rests almost entirely on Maxine Peake's performance -- which proves more than capable of shouldering the weight of this affecting period drama." [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Coogan</span> English actor and comedian (born 1965)

Stephen John Coogan is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is best known for creating and portraying Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris on On the Hour and The Day Today. Partridge has featured in several television series such as I'm Alan Partridge (1997–2002) and the film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013). Coogan has earned accolades such as four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddy Considine</span> English actor (born 1973)

Patrick George Considine is an English actor, director, screenwriter and musician. He is known for playing antiheros in independent films. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard British Film Awards, British Independent Film Awards and a Silver Lion for Best Short Film at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Harris</span> British actor

Sean Harris is an English actor. He played Ian Curtis in 24 Hour Party People (2002), Micheletto Corella in The Borgias (2011–2013), Fifield in Prometheus (2012), Solomon Lane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), Philip in Possum (2018), William Gascoigne in The King (2019) and Henry Peter Teague / Peter Morley in The Stranger (2022).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxine Peake</span> British actress (born 1974)

Maxine Peake is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her roles as Twinkle in dinnerladies, a sitcom on BBC One (1998–2000), as Veronica Ball in Shameless, the comedy drama from Channel 4 (2004–2007), Martha Costello in the BBC One legal drama Silk (2011–2014), and Grace Middleton in the BBC One drama series The Village (2013–2014). In 2017, she starred in the Black Mirror episode "Metalhead". She has also played the title role in Hamlet, as well as the notorious serial killer Myra Hindley in See No Evil: The Moors Murders, the critically acclaimed 2006 dramatisation by ITV of the Moors murders.

Humdrum is a 1998 British animated comedy short film directed by Peter Peake. It was released in 1998 and produced by Aardman Animations and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film and a BAFTA nomination in the same category.

Lindsey Coulson is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Carol Jackson on the BBC soap opera EastEnders. For this, she won the 2000 British Soap Award for Best Dramatic Performance. Other roles include Cheryl in Manchild (2002–2003), DC Rosie McManus in Murder Investigation Team (2003–2005), DCI Sarah Tanner in Bulletproof (2018–2021), and Penny Armstrong in The Bay (2019–2021). Coulson's film credits include AKA (2003) and Funny Cow (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sally Hawkins</span> British actress

Sally Cecilia Hawkins is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film. She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Bird</span> English actor and comedian

Simon Antony Bird is an English comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Will McKenzie in the multi-award-winning E4 comedy series The Inbetweeners (2008–2010), as well as its two films, and Adam Goodman in the Channel 4 comedy series Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).

<i>Tyrannosaur</i> (film) 2011 British drama film

Tyrannosaur is a 2011 British drama film written and directed by Paddy Considine and starring Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Paul Popplewell and Sally Carman.

Diane Morgan is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has portrayed Philomena Cunk on the review programme Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe (2013–2020) and in the mockumentary series Cunk on Britain (2018) and Cunk on Earth (2022). She also played Liz on the BBC Two sitcom Motherland (2016–2022) and Kath in the Netflix dark comedy series After Life (2019–2022), as well as writing and starring in the BBC Two comedy series Mandy (2019–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Panthaki</span> British actor

Ray Panthaki is a British actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for the roles he played in Marcella (2016-2020), Away (2020), and the movie Boiling Point (2021), for which he was nominated for the 2021 BIFA for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Dunphy</span> British business person and film producer

Peter Gerard Dunphy, is a British staffing business CEO, who serves as Chief Commoner of the City of London Corporation for 2024/25.

<i>A Midsummer Nights Dream</i> (2016 film) 2016 British television film

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 2016 British television film based on the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was adapted by Russell T Davies, directed by David Kerr and produced by Nikki Wilson. It stars Maxine Peake as Titania, Matt Lucas as Bottom, John Hannah as Theseus and Nonso Anozie as Oberon. The film was first broadcast on 30 May 2016 on BBC One.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Hartley</span> British actress (born 1972)

Joanne Victoria Hartley is an English actress who has appeared in the films This Is England, The Young Victoria, Eddie the Eagle, Slaughterhouse Rulez and Torvill & Dean and in British television series This Is England '86, Not Safe For Work, After Life, Bliss, In My Skin, Sweetheart (2021) and Bank of Dave (2023).

Chubby Funny is a 2016 British comedy-drama film, directed and written by Harry Michell. Michell also stars in the film alongside Augustus Prew and Isabella Laughland. The film premiered at LOCO London Comedy Film Festival at BFI Southbank on Saturday 6 May 2017. It was produced by Free Range Films, Aimimage Productions and Guinea Pig Productions.

<i>The Bisexual</i> 2018 British television series

The Bisexual is a comedy-drama television series created by Desiree Akhavan and Rowan Riley and starring Akhavan, Maxine Peake, and Brian Gleeson. The series, a co-production between British television network Channel 4 and American streaming service Hulu, debuted on 10 October 2018 in the United Kingdom and on 16 November 2018 in the United States.

<i>Mark Kermodes Secrets of Cinema</i> 2018 British TV series or programme

Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema is a British TV documentary series on BBC Four. Presented by the film critic Mark Kermode, each 60-minute episode examines the tropes which come together to make a particular genre of cinema. An initial series of five episodes aired in 2018. A Christmas special was broadcast later that year, followed by two further specials in 2019. Series two and three, each consisting of three episodes, aired in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The programme has attracted positive reviews from TV critics.

<i>Bait</i> (2019 film) British drama film by Mark Jenkin

Bait is a 2019 British drama film written and directed by Mark Jenkin. Starring Edward Rowe as a struggling fisherman, the film deals with the tensions that arise between locals and tourists in a Cornish fishing village against a backdrop of second homes, short-term lets, and gentrification.

Adrian Shergold is a British film and television director.

Lara Alexandra Peake is an English actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the Channel 4 series Born to Kill (2017) and the BBC Three series Mood (2022). Her films include How to Have Sex (2023).

References

  1. ↑ "Funny Cow (2018)". IMDb .
  2. ↑ "Buy cinema tickets for Funny Cow | BFI London Film Festival 2017". LFF. Retrieved 3 October 2020.[ dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Funny Cow".
  4. ↑ "Funny Cow review – Maxine Peake blazes in the dark days of standup". The Guardian. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "Funny Cow". Empire. 16 April 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Funny Cow review: Maxine Peake equally loveable and loathable in excruciating, inspiring drama". Evening Standard. 20 April 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "Funny Cow — Maxine Peake lights up strange stand-up story". www.ft.com. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  8. ↑ "Film reviews roundup: Funny Cow, The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Society, Let The Sunshine In, The Leisure Seeker, Every Day". The Independent. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  9. ↑ "LFF '17: Funny Cow". www.filmseekers.com. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  10. ↑ Salt, Paul (18 April 2018). "'Funny Cow' Review: Maxine Peake Triumphs in this Bleakly Hilarious Slice of Northern Comedy". Screen Mayhem. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  11. ↑ Maher, Kevin. "Film review: Funny Cow". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Funny Cow review: a tough tale of hard times and dark humour | Sight & Sound". British Film Institute. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Kermode and Mayo". YouTube .
  14. ↑ "Kermode Uncut". YouTube .
  15. ↑ "Funny Cow · BIFA · British Independent Film Awards". BIFA · British Independent Film Awards. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  16. ↑ "Funny Cow". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 16 August 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.