"I'm the guy that invented peanut butter"
The Limelight is
an ultra low budget comedy drama that was written, directed and stars comedian
Glen Maney. Maney plays Gary Shand, a middle aged stand up comedian who in his
own words has lost his wife, his kids, everything. Constantly short of cash, Gary tries desperately to get work through his agent Al
(Ricky Grover), a non nonsense hard man who appears to enjoy watching Gary suffer. Gary’s only
friends appear to be a young stand up called Sean (Patrick Monahan) who steals
his material and bartender Adrian (Mark Monero) who has dreams of being a
councillor but is unable to console Gary. The plot follows Gary through his struggles until he is ready
to end it all. But is redemption just around the corner?
I was asked to review this film by a friend who knows Glen
Maney. Because of this I was worried that I wouldn’t like it and would have to
tell him that I thought his friend’s film sucked! On the whole though I’m
pleased to say that I did enjoy the film although it is not without its faults.
Firstly I thought that the premise and story was excellent and was something
that is relatable. The idea of a comic who hasn’t quite made it and is
struggling with personal problems is a great narrative idea but I felt that the
film could have been punchier and is perhaps better suited to TV. In an
episodic format I would have happily returned to see how Gary was getting on week after week.