I am fairly well known by my friends for having a taste in actor-y type lust objects that is, well, slightly quirky to say the least. You can keep Brad Pitt. Clooney's ok, but really I'm not bothered enough to fight the 20 deep crowd of women that surrounds him. But Simon Pegg. Then I'd think twice. Now there is a man who is utterly lovely. Intelligent, funny, creative (he did write Spaced and Shaun of the Dead you know) and attractive in a very unconventional way.
Suffice to say, if Simon Pegg is in something I'll make an effort to go and see it. I even saw MI:3 and I have a pathological dislike of gurning midget Tom Cruise that means prior to that I'd refused seeing anything he was in since Interview with the Vampire. Hence I found myself at the Cineworld in Broad Street this week to see SP's new film, Big Nothing, before it got swallowed by all the big Christmas kid-friendly releases.
The reviews have been mixed, even the Peggster's pal and fellow geek Jonathan Ross was a little scathing about it, so I was very perturbed as to whether I'd like it or not. I have to say I actually quite enjoyed it. It made me laugh out loud a fair few times, it was quite twisted, very dark humour and genuinely an interesting film. I understand why it got ropey reviews - it really doesn't know what kind of a film it is, and by the end the twists and turns are just a bit much - but the cast is pretty good and it was a quirky diversion that didn't overstay its welcome (it was only an hour 20 minutes and to be fair that was QUITE enough thank you!).
It also had a GREAT soundtrack and La Pegg was good (although his accent was a bit dodgy in places), cast totally against type which actually seemed to work better although I was perturbed to find that when he ended up topless in a very brief sex scene I was feeling distinctly underwhelmed - he looked so 'everyman' that I could think of people in my circle of friends who I'd rather have seen naked (although partly I blame his dodgy facial hair!). Reminiscent oddly of Matchstick Men or (and this is what it reminds me of more) Dead Man's Curve. It's definitely worth catching although I doubt it'll be on at the cinema for long or indeed beyond Thursday! If only more people understood the wonderousness of Pegg!
Mike's What's On review of Big Nothing is here (and yes, I shamelessly nicked his pun for my headline, it was good!) or view the trailer here just beware rude words ;)