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It Couldn't Happen Here

4/10

Stars: Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe), Joss Ackland, Barbara Windsor, Gareth Hunt, Carmen Du Sautoy, The Beach Bikers, X Posse. Dominique Barnes

Director: Jack Bond

Surrealistic venture in which the Pet Shop Boys embark on a journey across England. But is it Thatcher's England, or the England of their fondest imagination?

So - I loved the music, but it's such a shame about the rest of the uber-talented Pet Shop Boys' only major film venture to date, which is little more than a series of videos - and a mixed bunch at that - masquerading as a movie.

Such choreography as there is in the dozen or so musical numbers is mediocre at best.

But for fans, there's always the songs (including West End Girls and It's a Sin) - moody, well-written stuff with backgrounds that show great care and invention, plus the best lyrics outside of Leonard Cohen or the later-1960s' Beatles. And, musically speaking, these pieces contain some of the most original sounds ever to emerge from the pop world.

Pet Shop completists will want to buy or rent this anyway, but the boys were well advised thereafter to stick to the albums and music videos; emphasising their trademark moroseness hardly lends sparks to the laboured seaside postcard charades on display here.

David Quinlan

UK 1987. UK Distributor: BFI (originally Entertainment). Colour by Rank.
87 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.

Review date: 11 Jun 2020

DVD review