Review of The Wipers Times (2013) by Tim W — 14 Jan 2018

At the start of this Chaplin says to Rhind-Tutt 'We've got plenty of ink, we've got paper, but no copy'. The writers too had paper and ink but no real idea what they wanted to do here. It's not grim enough to be a film about the triumph of the spirit in war - in fact, judging by the explosions the British army is up against boys with fireworks in an abandoned factory in Lancashire - and it's not funny enough to be a comedy either in the mould of the last Blackadder. Instead, it gives in to the sin of self parody of stiff upper lipped British officers leading the charge with dopey working class lads in the ranks scratching their heads at it all. It's an overused trope, the class issue in WWI and it's pummelled into submission here. I half expected Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse to wander on set as a pair of ludicrous senior officers sporting buck teeth and monocles. It's a story worth.

Telling but it needs to be told better than this. Jolly bad show, chaps.