Bunny and the Bull (2009) User Reviews

Stunning visuals are the highlight in Paul King's superb debut

[james_clarey · 8/10 · 19 November 2009]

This is the debut effort from director Paul King (Mighty Boosh), advertised as 'Withnail and I for the mentally ill'. This is an attempt to get audiences in, but oversimplifies the film to an extent of misleading the viewers. Yes, it is based on two young men going travelling, however what makes both these films great is their style, and that could not be any more different.

'Withnail and I' is famously bleak, portraying the struggling characters in the context of a social-realism drabness. However, stylistically, Bunny and the Bull can compete with the classics in eccentricity; stealing nuggets of genius from directors such as Gondry, Gilliam and Burton. By imitating Gondry's use of set design, theme parks are created from clock workings, and train cartridges from toilet parts. This manages to create stunning visuals along with awe-inspiring animation; but still retains the charm and spark of a low-budget movie.

Essentially a road movie, it tells the story of an obsessive-compulsive Stephen Turnbull (Edward Hogg) as he travels around Europe with unlikely friend, Bunny (Simon Farnaby). Over the course of 100 minutes, the cause of Turnbull's crippling agoraphobia is explained with the help of his catalogued mementos of the trip. These are used as jumping-off points into flashback scenes, as shot from his mental illness-addled imagination.

While at moments touching, the main problem seemed to be the lack of shots helping us to engage with the two leads. With the plot holding the potential to get an audience gripped and engaged, the acting seemed rigid and confused in places. The titular character, Bunny, is not fully realised, flickering between off-the-wall quirkiness, reminiscent of Seinfeld's Kramer, and a one-dimensional, Northern booze-hound.

With cameos from Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding, playing an unhinged matador, and Julian Barratt as a dog-milk-craving tramp, the expectations are understandable for this to be a feature-length episode of the show. However, the film takes the much loved quirks from first series of Boosh and manages to restrain them; connecting its celebrated vivid imagery with the real world, which allows viewers to connect better with the narrative.

While in parts uncomfortable, the state of Turnbull's mental illness slowly dawning, the film action never slows and gives the audience chance to get bored. Not as quick-paced as Boosh, this only serves to help the plot lines form naturally and the film to flourish, highlighting the real star of the film; Paul King.

A fairy tale with psychedelic backdrops

[olga1403 · 7/10 · 4 May 2010]

Probably one of the most anticipated movies of the year for me. The trailer really didn't do the movie justice. The story is essentially an adventure/drama (with a few comedy touches) but there's no denying that it's marginally darker than pretty much anything from the Mighty Boosh (if that's what you're expecting). The movie's visuals have pretty much been mentioned in every review, and they're are a very important part of the movie: fantastical, naive, fairytale-like, psychedelic. The movie never really lapses into reality for longer than a few minutes, which really plays into King's style of directing. The lead characters are really charming and believable, but the writing, especially the dialog was really lacking. It's almost impossible not to compare King's writing to Barrat/Fielding's because of the nature of the film and many characters being played by the cast of the show and it really doesn't compare in my opinion. However it's still a really touching and enjoyable film that has some of the most inventive visuals I have ever seen.

Marmite on film.

[sr-dean · 8/10 · 11 February 2011]

This film is definitely not for everyone, a real love it or hate it. It is a little surreal but at its heart, its a nice little story of friendship.In short, an agoraphobic man tries to work up the courage to leave his house. Much of the film is his memories of a road trip he took with his best friend. I guess bunny and the bull can be categorised as a comedy, but the humour is mild and a little dark. For me the unique element to this film is the quirky cinematography separating memories from reality. The final five minuets of this film are well worth waiting for. This movie is without doubt a one off and very British. There is no guarantee you will enjoy this film......but watch it anyway! (Its only 100 mins of your life)

Beautifully crafted film with laugh-out-loud moments

[tomgillespie2002 · 6/10 · 13 February 2011]

This 'surreal' comedy plays much like an extended episode of The Mighty Boosh, however, it is far more endearing than this. The story focuses on friends Stephen (Edward Hogg) and Bunny (Simon Farnaby). Stephen is a shut-in who hoards everyday items and mementos in boxes stacked around the house. The two characters go on an imaginary road trip, which is fantasised through memories of past events. This faux-adventure takes them to Spain, where Bunny learns how to be a matador. This is after they meet Spanish seafood restaurant waitress Eloisa (Veronica Echegui), who has quit her job and decided to make the journey back to Spain. After acquiring a vehicle in a crab eating contest, Stephen and Bunny catch up with Eloisa and make that journey happen.

The connection between this and the BBC show The Mighty Boosh, is obvious, as the films writer/director Paul King is involved in directing the shows episodes. The inclusion of Noel Fielding and Julien Barract in small (but highly hilarious) parts heightens this further.

The visual style of the film is reminiscent of the work of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Michel Gondry. King uses the fantasy elements of the journey to create a backdrop of animations made from cardboard and layered paper. In an opening sequence we she Stephen and Bunny making bets in a bookies that looks like a set lifted from an episode of Paddington from the 1970s: that is, two dimensional pencil sketched surroundings.

There is much to like here, the performances of the two main characters are excellent, especially Simon Farnaby, who dresses like a 1970s binman. But for me the stand out character, and giver of the best laughs is Julien Barrats Polish Tramp. In a scene under a motorway flyover, Atilla offers Stephen some milk. "It's dog milk". This is offered in a bottle, but Atilla drinks directly from the dogs teet. Stephen gets a hard-on from the dog, Atilla replies "You want f**k my wife?"

In the closing sequences we get a beautiful Jeunetesque payoff, beauty becomes rhythm. Without words, the visuals play. The mechanical bull becomes the person. Metal to skin, skin to muscle, but death is ultimate when fantasy is mistaken for reality. Well, that's what I wrote in my notes. I'd had a few drinks whilst I watched it. In conclusion, a beautifully crafted film visually, with many laugh-out-loud moments, and some endearing characters.

www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

A visual feast of a debut.

[come2whereimfrom · 7/10 · 13 December 2009]

Firstly this isn't a Mighty Boosh film and secondly this isn't a comedy, yes it has some funny moments, but it's more of a drama. Quirkily telling the story of a road trip across Europe by friends Bunny and Stephen the action is told through a series of lo-fi set pieces which is a heady blend of Gilliam, Gondry and even Oliver Postgate. There is a real sense of a hands on glue and scissors approach. This comes across in the film as the attention to detail in the sets often threatens to overshadow the actors but it's the central friendship which is at the core of the film that keeps the fantasy in check. Grounded in a reality that most people should be able to recognise the story is at times a heartbreaking flashback to misspent youth and the bonds, no matter how strange, we form as humans. It's an age old story of boy meets girl, girl meets boy's best friend etc but the way the story unfolds with the aid of the animation gives it a fresh lease of life, its surreal and weird but at the same time charming and real. A series of cameos from three fifths of the Boosh are a little light relief in what turns out to be quite a dark tale but it's really Simon Farnaby as the lovable rogue Bunny that shines above all else. Clearly 'Withnail & I' had a big influence on the director if not the film and you will spot similarities, which isn't a bad thing, Whitnail is a classic. Whether this resonates as much with today's youth as that film did we will have to see but all in all director Paul King's leap from small to big screen is a success. It's clever, funny and dark and the start of a big screen career that will be well worth following.

Tremendous on so many levels

[rooprect · 10/10 · 9 November 2014]

"Bunny and the Bull" is possibly the most visually inventive film I've seen in my life. It begins with a title credit sequence with the camera gracefully flowing from object to object in a small room, like in Jeunet-Caro's classic "Delicatessen". It stays in that same Delicatessenesque vein while we meet our hero, an agoraphobe who evidently hasn't left his apartment in 1 year, and then the real fun starts...

Our hero "Stephen" (Edward Hogg) stares at random objects in his meticulously cluttered apartment, and each object triggers a flashback. Each flashback is vividly adorned in scenery relating to the object that triggered it. For example, his first flashback comes from a box of fast food takeout. The flashback scene contains the actors and some real props but they are sitting inside an animated cardboard box. Occasionally cars will pass by the window outside, similarly animated cardboard cutouts.

I found this visual style to be both eye-catching and wonderfully creative. Animation is very old school, using tricks of stop motion photography, hand drawings, confetti for snow, and projection screens showing dreamlike landscapes behind the action. It reminded me of the work of Michel Gondry ("The Science of Sleep", "Eternal sunshine of the Spotless Mind") or Tim Burton's old school stuff ("Nightmare Before Christmas", "Edward Scissorhands", "Peewee's Big Adventure") but ramped up on steroids. Everything is very vivid and pleasing to the eye with cartoonish colors and simplicity surrounding what ultimately ends up being a very complex story.

The actors present a fabulous dynamic with "Stephen" being the obsessively uptight dweeb who courts a girl for 3 years before working up the nerve to say he likes her, while his best friend "Bunny" (Simon Farnaby) is the antithesis: a devil-may-care hedonist who can bed any girl in under 2 minutes it seems. The movie is a series of flashbacks unraveling a strange adventure that the two of them had together, mostly silly escapades culminating in a life-altering event that just might alter your life as well.

Something I found particularly funny was the way our hero is an animal lover, and a very outspoken one at that. He has a hilarious way of turning almost any situation awkward by expressing his views, almost like a "Debbie Downer" character. But if you're an animal lover you may find yourself cheering him on. For example, in one scene they are talking to a would-be matador who is relating the joy and elegance of bullfighting. He says something like "It is not a fight. It is a dance. A beautiful dance as only man and beast can do." And our hero Stephen fires back "Really? I thought it was all about stabbing a defenceless animal in the back of the neck until he dies." And the matador says, "It is a peculiar dance, I'll give you that." Great sarcastic & deadpan humor along with hilariously awkward situations pepper this film throughout, making it fun from beginning to end. And as I alluded earlier, there is ultimately some great depth and power to this seemingly whimsical flick.

If you're a fan of the directors I mentioned above, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Michel Gondry & Tim Burton... and I'll throw in Charlie Kaufman & Spike Jonze ("Being John Malkovich", "Synecdoche NY") and maybe Terry Gilliam ("Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas") then do not hesitate to see this wonderfully bizarre flick. In over 500 films, I've only given out about 20 perfect "10" ratings, but this film truly deserves the honor.

Visually brilliant but the content is not all I had hoped

[bob the moo · 2 February 2012]

As a fan of The Mighty Boosh, I'm surprised that it took me so long to get around to watching this film; my girlfriend hating the Boosh probably was part of it but either way I finally got to seeing it recently. The film is a story of a young man who is a recluse and has not left the house in over a year and seems unable to do so in the near future. Closed into a carefully organised prison of his own making, he remembers the last time he left the house – an European road trip with his friend Bunny which involved a Polish tramp, a Spanish bullfighter, a feisty waitress and a massive stuffed bear.

The connection to Boosh is apparent not only in the writer/director and small roles for Fielding and Barratt but just in the construct of the film from the very start. It has a certain oddness to the telling and it makes for a surreal story even though it is a simple one if you wrote it down in bullet points. The whole thing is delivered in this semi-real world where animation means reality – and I don't mean in a "Cool World" sort of way but rather in a beautifully seamless way of backgrounds, of little flourishes and generally the design of everything – all having the effect of bringing reality and memory together so that objects often have significance within the presentation. I loved this aspect of the film and it constantly enchanted me with how creative it was. Sadly the overall story didn't quite match up to this and I didn't find myself quite as charmed or tickled by the main thrust of the film – it is OK, but never hilarious nor as clever as I had hoped.

This noticeably changes when Fielding and Barratt have their turns in the film. Fielding is fun as the bullfighter, but it is Barratt who really steals the film with his character – a character that is repulsive but yet funny, terrifying but quite enigmatic; he is very funny indeed. Hogg in the lead is a little bit weak but is rather blank slate approach does work. In regards Farnaby I had doubts and continue to have them. He works when the material helps him, but at times he is a bit too basic and lacking in the presence and character that the Boosh duo brought to their roles – OK they had the laughs to help them, but still, Farnaby doesn't totally work for me in this casting. I really liked the spirit and accent of Echegui and I also appreciated seeing Ayoade in a small role.

Bunny and the Bull is definitely worth a look if you love the Boosh, because the humour is very much in that ilk and the semi-animated world is really well constructed and delivered. It isn't as brilliant as I had hoped though and I wish it had been funnier and smarter in the latter stages, but it is wonderfully surreal throughout and I enjoyed it quite a lot on that basis.

The Anti-Road Movie of the Spotless Boosh

[owen-watts · 6/10 · 31 May 2023]

Boosh was a massive phenomenon in the mid-noughties so fair play to whoever gave the young director Paul King (latterly of Paddington) enough money to make a feature film that has very little to do with it. Bunny sits in a strange place tonally - in the greasy plains between proto laddy bants and Gondry whimsy. Some of it is really fascinating but it does feel like a half hour spread too thin - and sometimes the momentum drags. Nice to see Farnaby and Hogg of all people as movie leads, but it sadly now mostly feels as dated and shallow as Boosh itself. King is better off with the marmalade muncher.

Wildly inventive debut

[Ali_John_Catterall · 9/10 · 26 October 2009]

The boy was on holiday in Rome, having dinner with his parents at a restaurant. An Italian restaurant. When in Rome and all that. The lobster was in the restaurant too, but it wasn't on holiday. Shortly it would be executed by boiling water; a hot corpse to be dissected on the boy's plate. This was unacceptable to the lobster. As the waiter carried the lobster over to the boy's table, the pathetic creature decided to make a break for it. Wriggling out of the waiter's tongs, it smacked head-first into a low-hanging light bulb. The bulb shattered, hot shards raining down on the five-year-old's head. To this day, 'Mighty Boosh' director Paul King won't touch seafood. It's no coincidence that in King's debut feature, Bunny And The Bull, the most revolting European chain restaurant he can conceive of is called 'Captain Crab', serving up slimy portions of barely-dead crustacean.

But back to that lobster for a moment: it doesn't take an armchair psychologist to drum up a corollary between the surreal and often fraught comedy of Bunny, and The Boosh, and that traumatic childhood incident. The plot of Bunny And The Bull does indeed deal with how painful memories can adversely affect our present outlook. If King can't go near shellfish again, his paranoid, agoraphobic creation Stephen 'Bull' Turnbull (played by Edward Hogg) can't seem to leave his Kings Cross flat for fear of something awful happening. This is a man so terrified of the unexpected, and of that which he cannot control, he has turned his dismal flat into a virtual mausoleum, stacking his own pee in jars, "and noting its PH".

The reasons behind his self-incarceration are soon revealed: an ultimately doomed European road trip taken with his toxic best friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby). Initially taking in such genuine museums as The German Museum of Cutlery and the National Shoe Museum of Poland (your laconic tour guide, one Richard Ayoade), Bunny decides his lovesick friend requires more stimulating adventures, and soon they're picking up a sexy Spanish waitress Eloisa (Verónica Echegui), stealing stuffed bears and encountering a barking mad Hungarian tramp called Atilla (Julian Barratt), who much prefers to drink his dog's milk directly from the dog.

Given the presence of the latter, and of a pleasingly restrained Noel Fielding who also cameos here as a booze-sodden matador, the real shocker is that this isn't in fact 'Boosh: The Movie' (which at time of writing, is apparently in the works). This, despite featuring - and apparently in all coincidence - a pale, long-haired man and a hairy Yorkshireman pottering through a surreal hyperverse. (If this were made in the 1960s, Frank Zappa and 'Monkees' creator Bob Rafelson would surely be exec-producing.) Instead, this movie utterly belongs to Hogg and Farnaby, who act out an anarchic and surprisingly touching meditation on male friendship, impotent bravado, and grief. Perhaps unsurprisingly, King's a huge fan of Bruce Robinson's classic, and there are various allusions throughout ("Sure I can't tempt you with one last little drink?" asks Bunny as the mismatched pair bid their farewells). Making the association explicit, the producers have even dubbed this one "Withnail & I for the mentally ill" - as if the latter weren't also conceived in the white heat of a near-nervous collapse. At any rate, as with Withnail, and the comedy of duo Oram and Meeten, there's deeper stuff going here on than just a bunch of stoner-style antics.

All this is played out against part-animated, endlessly inventive handcrafted backdrops, including an underpass made from newspaper, a fairground made from clock parts and a bull made out of cutlery - not to mention a bravura credit sequence, which utilises everything in Stephen's flat from pocket calculators to postage stamps. If the most obvious aesthetic comparisons are to be drawn with the work of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Terry Gilliam, fans of animation will be reminded of Czech surrealist Jan 'vankmajer, and even Oliver Postgate and FilmFair - responsible for bringing 'Bagpuss', 'The Wombles' and 'Paddington' to life on British televisions during the 1970s.

An equally indelible impression is left by Simon Farnaby's cheerfully disgusting shagger-gambler, who with his second-hand sheepskin coat, and accompanying stench of mid-strength own brand lager resembles some disgraced 1970s polytechnic lecturer, or a younger version of the cult comedian Charlie Chuck. He also looks as if he's carrying at least three varieties of STD - if those STDs happened to be uniquely English ones.

A whole lot of bull

[rooee · 3/10 · 13 May 2011]

Paul "Mighty Boosh" King storms onto the silver screen with a cavalcade of imaginative imagery, from a snow globe mountain retreat to a clockwork bullfight, but then attempts to meld it all with an atrocious script, which is at times inane, elsewhere sentimental, and riddled with boring f-bombs. The dialogue is full of jokes but empty of wit or insight.

Broadly (and it often is) the film is about a traumatised and possibly agoraphobic young man named Stephen who musters a lo-fi Euro road trip in his head, the landscape and characters forged only by the contents of his apartment. If it sounds like Amelie then that's because it is like Amelie, right down to the rippling piano score. Difference is, Amelie, under its sugary shell, contained pathos and humanity, and its surreal digressions were complementary to a solid and coherent plot.

King's film is a cauldron of slapstick, surrealism and homosexual tension, all stuttering along on the power of a pair of lifeless performances. As a viewer all we have to root for is the soppy, infantile Stephen (Edward Hogg) and the crass, infantile Bunny (Simon Farnaby).

There's an almost amusing turn from Richard Ayoade as a bored shore museum curator. Noel Fielding's matador cameo shows promise then descends into a loud nothing.

Woven well into the wayward narrative, the animated asides are arresting in a Lloyd's TSB ad kind of way, providing welcome respite from the highly variable sketches in between. But ultimately they only serve to remind us of the talent that's going down with the ship. It all comes across as quite "random"; except we know it's anything but. It really was meant to be this way.

The whole venture reaches its nadir with a homeless zoophile who drinks milk from a dog, at which point you may wish to follow Bunny and leap through the frozen ice to save yourself.

Utterly Breath Taking.

[Robots_In_Disguise · 10/10 · 14 February 2011]

Like most of you, I'm a big fan of the Mighty Boosh. Because of this, I was very keen to see director Paul King's latest project which featured cameos of my two favorite men, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. At first, I was a little perplexed as to why the two unknown leads were cast as Stephen and Bunny, when they looked exactly like Noel and Julian. I was also under the impression that they were 'The Flighty Zeus', which I now know is only half true. Another impression I had was that this film would be absolutely hilarious. Although I wasn't expecting much apart from a few laughs and a few cameos what I got out of this film was so much more.

As the film begins, we are introduced to a character known as Stephen, who hasn't left his flat in over a year. Due to a rodent infestation, Stephen is forced to leave the flat, but not before retelling the tale of how he became so housebound. Using various objects around the house with special appearances made by Bunny, he tells the story of when the two of them traveled around Europe. Through the use of stop motion animation and amazing special effects, we travel back a year.

The story provides a great deal of humor with a number of 'laugh out loud' moments. The cameos from Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and Richard Ayaode are hilarious and yet, they never manage to outshine the leads. Previously unknown, Edward Hogg and Simon Farnaby bring something to the script that I don't think even the Boosh boys could manage. They are the heart and soul of the movie, and when you learn their story, your heart breaks.

Throughout the film, I was in amazement at how original the idea was, how beautiful the effects were, despite such a low budget. I was also giggling non stop just at the thought of Julian or Noel in those crazy costumes. Then suddenly, as the film draws to an end, Bunny decides he must prove himself to Stephen by challenging a bull. Bunny takes off and Stephen follows him. 'Where did this all come from?' I found myself asking. Suddenly a beautiful clockwork bull charges at Bunny and directly spears him in the chest. He drops to the ground, my stomach drops as well. Stephen sits in the empty field next to Bunny's body and I find tears streaming down my face.

The film then flashes back to Stephen in the apartment, for after all, this has just been a story he's been telling. We learn why he is so housebound, why he's been afraid to leave the house. Finally, with a few encouraging words from Bunny, who we find out, wasn't really there in the flat with him at all, Stephen gets his courage and leaves the house.

What a beautiful bitter sweet story he has just told.

Awful. Just awful.

[lurchyboy · 1/10 · 27 July 2010]

I'm a fan of alternative movies, particularly ones that don't prescribe to the usual Hollywood formula, so I was looking forward to this film. I was, however, sorely disappointed. It may look all nice and alternative with it's surrealistic backdrops but really... who cares when the content is sub-A-level-English drivel.

Dull plot. Stilted dialogue. Wooden acting. Stereotypical characters who you couldn't care less about. Not to mention shots copied directly from Being John Malkovich.

Worst of all it was obvious that the film-makers were trying to be all 'shocking'. One scene shows a man drinking milk from a dog. The scene lingers and lingers, waiting for some kind of laugh from an imagined audience. It was just painful to watch.

Without a doubt one of the worst films I've seen in my life. Come back when you've learnt how to make a real film.

A rare treat

[stopjen · 10/10 · 3 September 2010]

What makes this film absolutely sublime is the lingering melancholy - faint yet stubbornly persistent - ubiquitous through all the quirky, surreal, and comical sequences. It's never self-indulgent or over-sentimental. All elements, be it emotions, performances, sets, character development, or animation, are well-controlled and contained as a proper English would have it; yet it's radical, outrageous, bold, and sometimes uncomfortably daring. Elegance rises through vulgarity, and (almost unbearable) sadness screams silently. This film is unique, delightful, touching, funny, and yes, wicked. It's not Boosh but fans or otherwise shall be pleasantly surprised.

A brilliant film reminiscent of Michel Gondry's work!

[dambo729 · 10/10 · 29 May 2011]

A BRILLIANT FILM!!! Reminiscent of Michel Gondry's work, Paul King has created a fantasy world that is both beautiful and unique. It touched a soft spot as it reminded me of my relationship to my best friend, and how our lives ended up.

The worlds created for this touching film are all surreal, beautifully crafted from books, paper mache, and other arts & crafts. The acting is flawless by all the actors including the beautiful Veronica Echegui.

I was sad to find that he doesn't have any other features out yet. Can't wait to see more. Absolutely loved it and highly recommend it. It's currently available on Netflix streaming (as of May 2011).

Quirky absurdist British film that fails utterly

[ihrtfilms · 4/10 · 23 August 2010]

Paul King worked on The Mighty Boosh, the much loved, surreal British TV show, so I hoped to get some of that in this. But alas not. Really the film is a road trip, one down memory lane as a obsessively compulsive agoraphobic man looks back on a trip through Europe with his best mate.

On the trip they encounter a variety of characters including a young Spanish woman with whom he falls for and yet his friend beds. In the end through tragedy the man learns to see life differently and step into the outside world again.

The film has so much potential, but it never seems to know what it's trying to be. British comedy is known for often being surreal, odd and quirky and this film tries to be all, yet it also tries to be too surreal, odd and quirky yet too clever, whilst never allowing the audience to engage with it's main characters who are either too placid or too grotesque. It also fails as it is never a serious drama, despite the elements of mental illness nor is it funny in a laugh out loud way or in a darkly comic way, instead you have a film that just drags along.

One factor works in the film's favour and that is the production. Using surreal sets and backdrops, a snowscape inside a snow globe or a fairground made out of scrap metal, it is often a little overwhelming, but at times very clever. But at the same time the visual style becomes a little too much and draws away from the story line which may have come out better had the film used less quirk and more convention in telling it's story. Stick to the Might Boosh.

More of my reviews at iheartfilms.weebly.com

"Beautiful" comes to mind

[Benjamin_Philipp · 9/10 · 29 September 2015]

Beautiful is the first word that comes to mind for me. Story telling in this movie is so well done, you can watch it several times and find nothing but confirmation. Shifts away from reality (through different kinds of animation) are used to ease in and out of the memories of an agoraphobe, reliving the story of what made him a shut-in; also signifying a reluctance to relive said story. The hand crafted animations and interesting characters in this well written story of the travels of two best friends add to the overall feeling of watching a well presented story unfold from the comforts of your couch (and your safe home) Love to detail, a really pleasant tempo and good actors weave a really well done picture.

Visually stunning, surreal, comedy, drama

[eve_dolluk · 4/10 · 25 March 2011]

Bunny and the Bull starts with the lead character Stephen a Paranoid Neurotic living a hermit like existence. What could have happened to him to make him this way, well through a series of flash backs from a road trip with his mate Bunny a year earlier we are about to find out.

Let me start by saying this film is Visually brilliant, it uses so many idea's and creativity to set the scene in a surreal imaginary way for me this was the best feature of this film and credit is due to everyone involved on this front.

Edward Hogg plays Stephen who does a good job of creating his paranoid character and is always believable. Te film centres around the whole buddy premise, in this case the comedy double act of the straight v's funny guy e.g Morecambe and Wise

Stephens friend is Bunny played by Simon Farnaby, he is supposed to be the lovable idiot and supposed to provide the laugh's.

The other main character is Eloisa played by Veronica Echegui who supply's the love interest and creates the antagonist between the two friends.

The supporting cast was very good and a notable performance from Julian Barret as Atilla and Noel Fielding has a small part as Matador Javier. These are the people that supply the laughs because what could have been a good comedy role in Bunny turned into a stomach turning weak wooden embarrassment. This is where the whole film falls down, without a strong Bunny performance the whole thing falls flat. Dude i don't know if it was the writing or dude i don't know if it was just the performance but dude the character didn't become the lovable idiot he became the annoying idiot that said dude too much plus he looked like Patrick Swayze with a blonde afro. Now considering Bunny was in most scenes it left the whole thing falling flat and lacking in laugh's. Verónica Echegui had some of the funniest moments and she certainly understands comic delivery but was also given funnier lines. She was a character that I liked a lot but sadly this wasn't about her. The problem with something like this is you need to care about the friendship and they did try and use all the tricks in the book, there was even a few Frodo/Samwise moments in there. If you are going to make a film that isn't plot driven or story driven then you need that friendship to carry the film and in this case it failed. There were also attempt at cheap laughs in the form of crude visual gags that maybe a 12 yr old would find funny but come on guys I expect better. Overall I wasn't totally disappointed but maybe a little let down as this could have been better either with better writing and dialogue or just a better Bunny, i mean dude !!! It was a visual treat with some amazing concepts let down by a weak supporting role which was the catalyst for the film. 5/10

Unique adventure with hope and melancholy.

[Growlyted · 9/10 · 17 October 2013]

I love surreal films and this was one I overlooked. I'm glad I finally gave it a chance. The trailer doesn't really do it justice. My favourite cameo actor was Julian Barratt of the Boosh. (I was disappointed with Noel's scene though.) Also pleased to see Richard Ayoade. While these two provide light relief, the main story-line is dark and traumatic. It is accompanied by bizarre animated sequences and an excellent soundtrack by the Ralfe Band. Stephen and Bunny's loyal and tortured relationship is at the heart of this film though. Their adventure is revealed through Stephen's memories stored up in his flat. They are imaginatively linked. The conclusion is perfect.

BUNNY AND THE BULL is an unpleasant load of twaddle

[YohjiArmstrong · 21 March 2011]

Plot: Two friends take a road trip through Europe.

Thank God the UK Film Council was abolished, considering it was funding such repulsive tripe as this. The film is a self-indulgent mess that confuses quirkiness for humour. The jokes are uniformly terrible, the nadir being a sideways shot of a flaccid penis that is supposed to provoke laughter. The lead is a perpetual adolescent, a whining bore who won't stop sulking about his failure at life. I wanted nothing more than to reach into the screen, slap him and tell him to pull himself together and stop being such an infernal wuss. That the script seeks every opportunity to degrade and humiliate him provides no emotional sympathy, whilst revealing a deeply unpleasant streak in the film makers. The plot is predictable and the 'wacky' characters tiresome - with quirkiness used to try and disguise the lack of depth to both. There are one or two visually interesting moments using the home-made arts and crafts aesthetic dear to hipsters but it never matches the wild abandon of 'The Mighty Boosh', which is its clear influence.

Worth no viewings.

Stephen and his mind maze

[kosmasp · 9/10 · 4 July 2020]

A movie like this, is a tough sell commercially speaking. An agoraphobic ... it's not just that technically speaking you are supposed to be within just a house (there have been a lot of great movies that just played in one location). It is the humor it uses - because it does go places (no pun intended).

So maybe watch a bit of the trailer to see and realize if this is something that appeals to you. Because if you don't think the premise and the jokes are funny ... you will have a hell of a time - just the wrong kind. Because those who like it will also have a (good) hell of a time. It is predictable I would say and it is quite gross (with male nudity and other stuff like language included) ... not something sensible people will appreciate for sure ... others will relish in it. Go with the flow and let your fantasy become one, with that of the movie!

What has happened to English comedy

[everything_I_Think · 2/10 · 6 July 2010]

The DVD for this film states that it stars the creme de la creme of English comedy talent. Wow, is this a depressing claim, i will deal with this first: Richard Ayoade was brilliant in Darth Mehrenghi and Nathan Barley, as was Julian Barrat, here however, although the material for their scenes is somehow clever and original, their 5 minutes on camera stay on the wrong side of a lame 2 minute sketch. Noel Fielding proves finally that he can act but his scene goes nowhere and instead we are left with the rotten yoghurt of English comedy for the majority of the film. Man, they could not have found two trolls with less screen chemistry. If the filmmakers had been actually trying to be obnoxious, became self aware and wrote it into the film i might have understood, I kept waiting for a sense of "this is what we intended". But this never happened because these guys are meant to be likable. Its not just that there performances are weak; they don't do anything which seems like they even enjoy each others presence. Anyway, I feel that this school of English humour has taken the risky freeform agenda of Python and mixed it up with a strange Chris Morris style darkness. The point of Morris is, as I paraphrase from a recent interview, not to do comedy and try and make people laugh, but to be funny accidentally. Well this movie was not funny in the slightest or dark and edgy although it tried to take the "oh the little things make life beautiful" nuance from Amelie and crash it headlong into the hollow grace of Being John Malkovich. The story was self indulgent neurotic brain theatre without a strong enough lead to compel any sympathy from me. Really, the lead Edward Hogg seems like a good actor, but he was given terrible direction from a director clearly obsessed with the visual feastyness of it all. The visuals are clever to an extent. Interiors are generated out of subconscious imagery and exteriors seem far away dreamlike, and it seems like the entire film could have been shot on one set. This I liked and added a nice theatre design touch to a movie. However when it goes over the top, for example with the motion capture models and the computer animated landscapes, I felt like the thing became unwelcoming, and no longer compassionate to its audience: The world we are shown is more ugly than magical, yet somehow we are made to believe that this is some kind of wonderland-Gilliamesq-Quay Brothers- fairy-tale universe that we would want to be a part of. An audience should want to go on the journey the films protagonists undertake, yet their trip was self-inflicted monotony with no silver lining, thus alienating anyone who dared to feel empathy for the films core which is essentially blib bla bloop. 2 stars out of 10 for the condom dispenser joke.

I have feelings for this film

[emilymeggardner · 10/10 · 7 February 2023]

Bunny and the Bull is a masterpiece and it genuinely might be the best film I've ever watched. The visuals, the characters, the music and the story are all truly beautiful. The way the sets are used like a scrapbook and memory is conveyed through the physical fabric of each scene is genius and it changed the way I view film as a medium.

I read somewhere that Simon Farnaby (of Stupid Deaths fame) avoids dramatic roles because people don't take him seriously, but I'd like to have a quick word with those folks because he absolutely shines in this. I'm still reeling from the fact that the Mighty Boosh gang managed to pull off such an incredibly heartfelt and emotional story - who knew they had the range?! It deals with mental illness and grief in a very sensitive and thoughtful way, especially for a comedy made in 2009. The ending made me weep.

I'm actually angry that nobody seems to know about this film, it should be a cult classic.

An unpleasant nightmare

[erikstuborn · 2/10 · 13 May 2016]

I think that film it's not funny as most comments on IMDb said.

The movie aims to be a sort of Amelie, but remains in a failed attempt to create an aesthetic kind Michael Gondry (cheap sets, much cardboard painting with pen and funny cartoons that here are not), about an agoraphobic and his memories before to be. The actors are not funny, the story has no interest and also the script is silly and without any sense of humor.

All the work of all that digital retouching, pretending not to be, is crass and without wit, all the aesthetic of the movie is so distasteful that makes you want to wake up because this world seems more an unpleasant nightmare than a dream.

It was like watching The Mighty Boosh, if it was horribly depressing and trying to be quirky and indie

[scarletminded · 21 August 2011]

I got this movie because I do like The Mighty Boosh and also the IT Crowd. Since the DVD case had a quote talking about how Bunny and the Bull was one of the most innovative British comedic films of the decade, it had a lot to live up to and it stopped short.

I did watch a marathon of Darkplace today, OK, it was a short marathon, but still, maybe this made me think Bunny and The Bull would be non-stop hi-jinx and laughters away. It started out well, with a guy who lives in his house and won't go outside. The scene where he finds his food marked with the days of the week eaten by mice then has to call the crab place for some depressing veggie mix is funny. It doesn't pick up speed from there. It goes from this well developed space to being awkward (but not even in a funny way) and less interesting.

Simon Farnaby, who reminds me of Julian Barratt from The Mighty Boosh and even played a double of Howard Moon (called Harold Moon) in one of my favorite episodes, The Power of the Crimp, is the funniest part of the film. I don't think he's given much to work with but tries to make it as funny as possible. Basically, if you laugh, 90% of the time, it will be him doing it. The lead, Edward Hogg, reminds me a lot of Noel Fielding, the two of them could be brothers. Noel Fielding plays Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh as the other main character to Howard Moon. So, this reminds me a lot of The Mighty Boosh with its actors and creative style. Yet, it isn't funny like the Mighty Boosh is. Picking two guys who look like the leads in his TV series, makes me wonder if Paul King didn't take the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach to the two guys having crazy adventures route.

The road trip idea sounds like a good one, especially if done without leaving the house. I love the sets and the Michel Gondry-ness of it all. It does have a sort of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind vibe, but the opposite way, as Stephen the Shut-In (Hogg), reflects on his trip to Europe with Bunny (Farnaby). I was pretty sure what had happened to Bunny as Stephen had flashbacks every time he opened the eye piece on his door to look out...and it wasn't happy. There is a scene too, where a cartoon horse that stumbles so our hero's horse can win and they can go to Europe. But then the stumbled horse gets shot with a slash of red on the screen which isn't very funny or tragic, it's plain odd. I suppose it is meant to be ironic, but it's jarring to me. I am not really sure what the point of the movie was, other than to have Stephen go outside again and face his fears of the world. I mean, that could have been done in a more dramatic or funny way, this movie doesn't do either. It sort of sits on the fence, not wanting to make a choice. I do get how this movie is supposed to be in a mind and the mind can get tragedy mixed with comedy in odd ways, like a dream...so why I am not liking this? Even the bull part was Fisher King-like and I liked The Fisher King. This has so much I like in it, yet I can't get into its world and it is so frustrating!

Perhaps this wasn't supposed to be a comedy. Or maybe it's a drama with black comedy elements that I didn't get completely. But I like movies like that. I like The Mighty Boosh, Darkplace and IT Crowd. I like dark comedies. This film is totally marketed wrong from the quotes on the DVD. I would expected a little less laughs if this was marketed more like a depressing drama or deep yet quirky (meaning not a whole lot of laughs) indie film.

It plays like a depressing Mighty Boosh. Think of Mighty Boosh, then take the humor out for the most part and have it play like a serious deep yet quirky (meaning not that funny) indie film and there you go! :) OK, add in the fact that the Harold Moon like guy in this one gets the girls and the Vince Noir like guy doesn't and is a shut in...it's all about the same for me. This could have easily been a Mighty Boosh film with a few script edits. Overall, I didn't hate or love this film, I am sort of neutral to it, hence the 5. I watched it all the way through and didn't turn it off, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either. Maybe it was just high hopes! If Paul King wasn't so good with other projects, I wouldn't be so judgmental!

Avoid

[32charachters · 1/10 · 29 April 2020]

Pretentious garbage made by a bunch of talentless luvies at the taxpayers expense.