The Boy with a Thorn in His Side
A film about a boy who's coming down whilst growing up.
Billy Heinlickburger (Alec Sedgley) is a teenager with problems.
He had a job, but left it because he hated it. He dreams of being an artist, a writer, a musician, but lacks the motivation to try and turn any of his ambitions into reality.
So he does what every unemployed teenager does. He sits at home, dreaming his dreams while the world goes past.
And what a home it is.
Not surprisingly, he is still living with his parents – who are both German and bonkers. More accurately, Billy’s father, Jurgen (Graham Pollard) is a bizarre collection of eccentricities that – over the years – has driven his wife, Gertrude (Sue Kimberley) to become a paranoid wreck.
One thing they do agree on, however, is that they want Billy to get a job and get out of their house.
So he drifts…
And then, as chance would have it, Billy bumps into an ex-girlfriend, Susan (Morgan Lees) who he’s never really gotten over. Susan, older and wiser, and sees Billy as a prat. A likeable prat, but a prat nonetheless.
But this doesn’t stop Billy from wanting to rekindle their old relationship…
Although Billy’s parents veer towards parody, much of the humour in The Boy With a Thorn in his Side is very character based, depending for both its comedy and its drama on the evolving relationship between Billy and Susan.
For a comedy such as this to work, it needs some very able actors in the main roles to create characters that remain both recognisable and believable. And it’s nice to be able to say that both Alec Sedgley and Morgan Lees do an excellent job. Throughout the film, Billy remains both funny and sympathetic. He’s directionless and self-absorbed, but no more so than most teenagers and, as such, able to resonate with all of us who remember being that age.
As I remarked earlier, his parents are a parody. But they are a parody of the embarrassment that every teenager feels for his family before he starts building a life for himself, so they fit right in to the comedy/drama tone of the film.
The film falls back on the use of a pseudo-documentary style to introduce the characters which, along with the tone of the film, initially reminded me of The Office. But as the film progressed, the more downbeat tone of the comedy put me increasingly in mind of Early Doors.
Nothing is rushed in this film. Writer/director Mark Jeavons takes the time to fully involve the audience with Billy and Susan’s steadily unfolding story so that we get to know the characters, understand them, sympathise and start to genuinely care about what Billy is going to do with his life. And, from this, the humour emerges naturally.
The Boy With a Thorn in His Side is a very well observed comedy that is, by turns, both funny and sad. It’s also a film with an underlying warmth that makes its ending a genuinely touching one.
And I am fully in agreement with Billy on the subject of mobile phones.
Tuesday 04 Oct 2005 | Paul Pritchard | Comedy, Drama
