SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

imad_jafar Reeves and Mortimer are an acquired taste - their zaniness is a love it or hate it style of comedy. One can see influences of early Steve Martin in their comedy, and nowhere is the Reeves and Mortimer format more engaging and exhilarating than in this raw and stagy sketch-show. "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" was a wild and weird stand-up extravaganza that had been developed since the mid eighties by Reeves and his comedy partner Bob Mortimer, which they performed at various clubs, stages and performance houses. Finally, in 1990, they recorded their well honed act for a video release. This recording is now available on DVD as "The Original Vic Reeves Big Night Out".But that's enough about the background and development; how is the actual show? Well, I will say this: you will either hate it or love it. There is no doubting that some of the humor in this show is simply not funny - even fans of parody and silly humor won't find it funny. Vic and Bob essentially try to throw all their early comedic skill at the wall to see what sticks. Most does. The viewers will overlook the few unfunny moments simply because there are many scenes which are filled with truly imaginative comedic ideas - the creation of Les is a masterwork on the team's part; his appearance assuring a laugh in every episode. Other highlights include Graham Lister, the hopeless and talentless talent try-out, Mr. Wobbly-Hand, and Vic and Bob's live singing of "Summer of '75", which Reeves recorded with more lyrics on his 1991 comedy album "I Will Cure You".Some of the most famous characters, however, such as The Man With The Stick, fall flat and their bits make you wonder why their scenes were not cut out of the whole act altogether. Nonetheless, "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" is a great show that reminds us you don't need obscenity to be funny. And, of course, each episode ends on a great musical note with Vic singing "Oh! Mr.Songwriter", using his undeniable singing ability to the maximum.

dalxray OK, here's the spoiler : All of the writing and acting.I am a great fan of English comedies (ie. Python, Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, Alexei Sayle's Stuff, Alan Partridge, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Saxondale, Fawlty Towers, The Games)(okay, last one's Aussie) - sitcoms, sketch comedy, satire, whatever - and was extremely disappointed as this was supposedly an influential series, but is in fact a load of nonsensical dreck. Badly delivered, childish, corny and extremely dated jokes - although I hesitate to call them jokes. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a parody of earlier television variety shows, but parodies are also supposed to be funny. This isn't.Don't waste your time, it's about as funny as cancer.By the way, Simon Day appears briefly a few times and is billed as Tommy Cockles, but he is not doing the (very funny) Tommy Cockles character from the Fast Show.

BritanniaRules "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" is stupid humour for the very juvenile mind. There is more intelligent humour to be found in a children's day care center than in this show.I like surreal humour as much as the next person, but I swear I could feel my brain cells dying off while viewing this waste of time.Fortunately, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer redeemed themselves later with the enjoyable and stimulating Randall and Hopkirk(Deceased).If you have not yet purchased this show on DVD, keep "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" out of your DVD collection. If this is what a Big Night Out is like, I'd rather stay in.

Skint111 I consider Vic Reeves Big Night to be one of the finest comedy shows ever to have adorned British television. It was brilliantly funny, incredibly inventive and superbly performed. It is comedy in the true sense, in that the objects or names that Vic mentions (eg when he's looking at what the man with the stick has written on his helmet) are funny in themselves. Reeves and Mortimer had an unerring ability to know exactly what was funny. So one type of vegetable is funny, another is not. The mere mention of one celebrity's name is funny, another is not. This is observational comedy in its purest form, and a sign of witty, perceptive minds. Get the DVD of this and keep it close. They don't make many like this.