Mandrek Larl

Who knew that the Holmes brothers Sherlock and Mycroft had a younger sister, Enola? I didn't and nor if I remember correctly did Sir ACD, but American author Nancy Springer did and she's written half a dozen books about the teenage detecting prodigy, and the first of these, "The Case of the Missing Marquess" has spun-off this fun movie. Beautifully filmed, wonderfully written, and employing animations reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python cartoons "Enola Holmes" is a glorious romp through late nineteenth century England that stars Millie Bobby Brown as the super-smart but street-unwise naïve Enola whose frequent breeches of the fourth wall keep the audience updated on her thoughts. Supported by Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin as brothers S and M respectively, Helena Bonham Carter shines as Eudoria Holmes the decidedly unconventional, eccentric, and free-spirted matriarch of the Holmes family; Eudoria and Enola's indoor tennis competition is a joy to watch. Elsewhere Fiona Shaw pops up as the headmistress of a finishing school for young ladies (not a million miles from her role as Carolyn Martens in Killing Eve) and Frances de la Tour as the Dowager Marchioness of Tewkesbury (and a million miles from Miss Jones in Rising Damp). Although sticking largely to the book's storyline, the mixing of two separate investigations, Enola's search for her missing mother who may, or may not yet turn-out to be a suffragette terrorist and her search for the "missing Marquess" whose support is critical for a parliament vote on universal suffrage [enough spoilers] adds an unnecessary layer and leaves an unsatisfying ending as Eudoria's shenanigans remain inconclusive leaving a clear opening for a sequel [apparently already confirmed]. Recommended, I don’t care what the kids thought, because I thought "Enola Holmes" was a joy to watch, witty and very clever.

So funny I thought the Memsahib was going to have a seizure … The BBC web-site has an article that lists "eight things Will Ferrell's Eurovision movie gets wrong", but who cares these are irrelevant and concern either transgressions of silly archaic Eurovision rules regarding numbers on stage, live performances, locations, scoring protocols etc. or unnecessarily pedantic historical inaccuracies, so don't let these stand in the way of enjoying this very funny movie that pokes gentle fun at Eurovision folklore with nods to Finland's 2006 heavy metal masked winners Lordi, Ukraine's 2014 hamster wheel contestant Mariya Yaremchuk and countless other performers and presenters. Stuffed full of cameo appearances and famous faces dumbing down this is the story of how a truly dreadful Icelandic bar-room duo, Lars (American Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Canadian Rachel McAdams) together Fire Saga, come to represent their country in the Eurovision finals pitting them against, inter alia, the Russian favourite and Lion of Love predator Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens) oozing brocade and George Michael [no spoilers here]. Why the critics hated it I'll never understand; yes it's thoroughly camp, but come on it's the Eurovision Song Contest, the home of "Gay or European". But it's not just because it's camp that audiences have applauded it, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is genuinely side-splittingly funny: the story is so outrageously improbable, the dialogue is very witty, the pratfalls are well sign-posted (cue hamster wheel and scarf) and Farrell and McAdams are brilliant as the gloriously pathetic duo that you just want to shake some realism into. It's so funny I thought the Memsahib was going to have a seizure. But why did it take an American to see through the Emperor's new clothes that's Eurovision and lift the scales from our eyes? Perhaps the critics wanted to save us from the truth that it really is a Eurovision Camp-fest.