2024 Movie
Dir. Chris Howe · United Kingdom · English
An earnest but overly exuberant style does no favors for this special's easy jokes
Jack Whitehall definitely has funny observations to make about life around him, and he clearly has a writer’s ear for detail-oriented jokes. But he hardly allows his jokes to breathe during this special, constantly over-explaining the point or killing the momentum of a really smart, clever punchline with so many more unnecessary lines after the fact. This is really just Whitehall’s style at this point, and those who already find his dorkiness endearing (which it really can be) should enjoy most of this. But for this writer, his jokes are just far too obvious and feel far too “performed.” It feels like he’s speaking at an audience, rather than for them.
Jack Whitehall takes the stage at London's O2 Arena to riff on dogs, drinking, dining alone, and finally deciding to settle down and become a father.
The comedian discusses navigating the absurdities of partnered life in his mid-thirties.
Whitehall's best moment in this special comes at the very end, in which his rapid-fire delivery and increasingly elaborate details is appropriately accompanied by a rousing—almost nationalistic—musical score. It's during these closing moments when it suddenly becomes clear what this special probably could have done to be more effective: to supplement the comedian's usual style with more consistent use of other audiovisual elements, and to lean into the ridiculousness of Whitehall's routine instead of leaving his jokes to fend for themselves on stage.
May we all have the patience of the spouse of a stand-up comedian who uses you as material.
Emil Hofileña is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. He also writes as a theater critic, with work published in Rogue and Out of Print, among others. He’s probably crying over a movie or an episode as we speak.
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