I remember the Monday morning after THAT SINKING FEELING received its first broadcast on British television in 1982 , all my classmates were discussing it: " Did you see that bit where the guy said ... " and I remember thinking that my peers had been watching another film because I recalled distinctly hating it .
The problem I had was the very episodic nature of the movie . THAT SINKING FEELING feels like 90 minutes of self contained sketches rather than a feature length comedy , and maybe this is why everyone was discussing " That bit where .... " it's really not the most cohesive screenplay you'll see . Secondly as a comedy it's made the cardinal sin of being silly rather than funny . The plot revolves around a group of Glasgow teenagers wanting to commit a heist but we see them getting beaten up by children and not having enough money to buy a cup of tea in a cafe , the point is spelled out in far too bold letters that these are pathetic criminals as if we didn't know this . There's also a joke where two characters are discussing the robbery they're going to pull when one exclaims " Let's get out of here , it's like a public park " The camera then pulls away to indeed show the conversation was taking place in a public park . If the joke was lame it was rendered even lamer still by the fact the camera isn't locked on the actors close enough before the joke was revealed , we knew they were sitting on a park bench long before the punch line !
Maybe I shouldn't be too hard since Bill Forsyth has made a successful guerilla film , but I should point out to people reading this page before seeing the movie that Bill Forsyth is a very idiosyncratic film maker whose movies lack a universal appeal , that's probably why we hear so little from him these days
The problem I had was the very episodic nature of the movie . THAT SINKING FEELING feels like 90 minutes of self contained sketches rather than a feature length comedy , and maybe this is why everyone was discussing " That bit where .... " it's really not the most cohesive screenplay you'll see . Secondly as a comedy it's made the cardinal sin of being silly rather than funny . The plot revolves around a group of Glasgow teenagers wanting to commit a heist but we see them getting beaten up by children and not having enough money to buy a cup of tea in a cafe , the point is spelled out in far too bold letters that these are pathetic criminals as if we didn't know this . There's also a joke where two characters are discussing the robbery they're going to pull when one exclaims " Let's get out of here , it's like a public park " The camera then pulls away to indeed show the conversation was taking place in a public park . If the joke was lame it was rendered even lamer still by the fact the camera isn't locked on the actors close enough before the joke was revealed , we knew they were sitting on a park bench long before the punch line !
Maybe I shouldn't be too hard since Bill Forsyth has made a successful guerilla film , but I should point out to people reading this page before seeing the movie that Bill Forsyth is a very idiosyncratic film maker whose movies lack a universal appeal , that's probably why we hear so little from him these days