Projects in genres: Comedy

Synopsis

An action comedy set in Liverpool, The 51st State, is the story of Elmo McElroy, a streetwise American master chemist, who heads to England to set up his last big deal - to introduce a new designer drug to the European market. He soon becomes embroiled in a web of double-dealing as he's escorted around Liverpool's underworld rave scene by rabid local hood Felix. Theirs is not a match made in heaven - Felix hates all things American. The crazy Yank in a skirt and the loud-mouthed Scouser are forced to team up and forget their differences.

Synopsis

In 1890s England, Algy Moncrieff and his friend Jack Worthing are a spirited pair of London dandies who are keen to win the hands of the women they love. And their chosen brides, the pre-Raphaelite Cecily and the distinguished Gwendolen are their perfect women - except that they appear to have a pathological aversion to any name - other than Earnest.

But of course, adopting this unusual name is the least of their troubles when the imposing Lady Bracknell arrives to guard her beloved daughter's reputation and investigate her suitors. Quizzing Jack over his social pedigree, Lady Bracknell is utterly dismayed to discover that he has only the spurious claim to being parented by a 'handbag'. She presents him with an ultimatum: unless he can prove his suitable origin within the week, the marriage will be off.

Galloping between London and the country, this farcical comedy of mistaken identities, and undiscovered liaisons gathers speed as the rakish pair try desperately to conceal their duplicity and prevent the discovery of some astonishing truths.

Oliver Parker's imaginative adaptation combines Wilde's inimitable wit with an engaging romantic tale and a sparkling comedy of social manners.

Synopsis

A contemporary romantic comedy set in the heart of multi-cultural Bradford. Vivek, a pest controller, steals a pot of magic ointment from the cockroach-infested flat of Bekai Basu - a self-professed love-doctor.

Synopsis

A darkly comic tale about Cann Ignatius a man under pressure. By day, put upon by a pernicious office junior. His work piles higher and ever higher, and by night, frustratingly kept awake by a neighbours midnight D.I.Y sessions. To top all this, his once full fridge is now empty.

Synopsis

During a trip to India to visit his father, a young man wakes up on a sun-drenched beach, unsure of where he is or how he got there. Before long he finds himself on an extraordinary journey meeting a series of ever more peculiar characters, in the search for his Dad. Eventually, riddled with confusion and haunted by recurring flashbacks of a party he can't remember, he heads into the jungle, where he's been told his father is waiting for him. Only one thing is certain: all is not what it seems.

The story is a gently surreal and comedic tale based loosely on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. The film was shot entirely in Goa, India, which with it's fantastic range of natural locations, provides a varied and continuously beautiful backdrop to the action.

The Wonderland Experience is an upbeat celebration of life, travelling and parties.

Synopsis

Caught is a dark comedy. Jay visits Rita's photographic studio seeking revenge on an abusive partner.

Synopsis

The story centres on Bridget, a 30-something 'singleton', convinced that everyone is getting it right except for her. Her ambitions are few - she would like to lose weight and find true love - but seemingly unattainable. Her romantic life is in a state of perpetual crisis.

While her friends Jude, Sharon and Tom provide her with hopeless advice, Bridget finds herself torn between two men, her charming, sexy, but dangerous boss Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy an old family friend, who seems at first to be aloof and dull, until his true self is revealed.

Bridget's unsuccessful attempts to control her chaotic life and to develop inner poise are charted by her hilarious and sometimes poignant diary entries.

Synopsis

Supermarket checkout girl Dianne Clarke embarks upon a campaign as a modern day Robin Hood, with no inkling of the chaos she is about to create. Within just a few days the Friendly Saver where she works will be brought to its knees. Double-check your receipt!

Synopsis

It is night and all seems quiet on Tweedy's Farm. But someone - or something - stirs in the shadows - It is Ginger, a chicken with a mission. She and her fellow flock are determined to escape the egg farm where any chicken who doesn't make her quota can meet a fowl fate.

There's Bunty, a champion egg-layer and proud of it; Babs, kind-hearted but decidedly bird-brained; Mac, the Scottish chicken who has all the skills of an engineering genius; and Fowler, the farm's elderly cockerel, who constantly reminisces about his wartime exploits in the R.A.F.

Every one of the chickens' many escape attempts under the fence, over the fence, even masquerading as Mrs. Tweedy is thwarted, and the ringleader, Ginger, is tossed into 'the cooler' by Mr. Tweedy.

Undaunted, Ginger is contemplating yet another escape attempt, when she witnesses the impossible - a rooster named Rocky comes flying over the fence into the farm. Ginger sees her salvation - if he can fly into the farm, she and the rest of the brood can fly out. She agrees to hide Rocky if he will teach the rest of the flock how to fly.

But even as the chickens attempt to fly up, the egg count continues to go down - a fact not lost on the greedy Mrs. Tweedy, who decides that chickens who aren't laying profits - can be baked for profits as chicken pies.

Synopsis

An urban comedy which features drug barons, pom dealers and aspiring DJs - and an unfortunate case of canine mistaken identity.

Synopsis

An upbeat, oddball, after-hours comedy about the ups and downs of sex and shelf-stacking in the 21st century.

Four friends, Sean, Vincent, Jody and Lenny find themselves at something of a dead-end. Trapped in a twilight world of permanent night shift work they hang out together in the local all night café, where their only escape from the drudgery is observing Vincent's unwavering success in pulling women. There seems little prospect of change. But then events conspire otherwise .

Synopsis

Eamonn Manley (Kris Marshall) hasn't much going for him. He's 24, he works in a Dating Agency (Amoré - 'Your Love is Our Affair') and he lives with his Ma. At night he hides in his room, dreaming of superhero adventures, romance and a girl he's too scared to approach.

Yet his life takes on a new direction when, after a miraculous encounter with Mary Mallory (Tara Lynn O' Neill), the local good time girl, Eamonn discovers he has the highest sperm count in Ireland. With male fertility rates plummeting around the world Eamonn finds himself in demand. Seduced by the possibility of doing good and a taste of the high life, Eamonn is persuaded by his friend Millicent (Bronagh Gallagher) to start providing a unique service to the good ladies of Belfast.

With his new-found confidence, he finally finds the courage to ask out the girl of his dreams. Rosie (Kathy Kiera Clarke) works at the local funeral home and has proved impervious to the approaches of more bullish guys. Entirely unaware of his new profession she finds herself drawn to the innocent, awkward Eamonn. And so begins Eamonn's bizarre double life: Lothario to half the city by day and shy lover to Rosie by night. His life is weirder and more wonderful than he could ever have imagined.

Meanwhile the 'most fertile man in Ireland' has come to the attention of the local Protestant hardmen, led by Mad Dog Billy Wilson (James Nesbitt), formerly 'the most-feared and psychotic' paramilitary in Belfast who now finds himself in a world that no longer requires or endorses his services. Aware that the rising birth rate in the Catholic community means the Protestants will no longer be in the majority, he is determined to get Eamonn to even the score.