Bright Side (The)

It was always going to be difficult to pull off...a comedy about a stand-up comedian! It's all about the material...cynicism and sarcasm are this comedian's forte - some of it lands solidly, some of it misses the target completely. Then again, humour is a subjective beast...what floats one person's boat can sink someone else's dinghy!

Cancer is no joke...it's an uphill struggle, even for the sharpest comedian, to extract an acceptable humour...from laughing in the face of death.

So, yes, the stage is all set for 100 minutes of laughs and tears. Unfortunately, neither come often enough...although Gemma-Leah Devereux delivers an admirable performance, her character has a distinct unpleasantness about her...a little too sardonic to connect with.

The film works best when the women are together - these colourful scenes with a kaleidoscope of characters and ages bring the camaraderie needed when dealing with this hideous disease. There's the snob, the pious, the gobshite and the surprise...and, a lesbian.

All these characters needed their stories extracted more...this should have been more a multi-character-driven ensemble piece rather than focusing on just the one.

As first feature go...it's competent film-making. It just lacks the two things that an audience would want from a story like this: more laughs, more tears.

Trailer...