2599. Something Huge (2017)

Starring: Berto Romero, Carlo Padial, Carolina Bang

Director: Carlo Padial

Running Time: 87 mins

Something Huge (Algo muy gordo) is a Spanish film about a comedy star who takes part in a new project to film a groundbreaking comedy of the future, but compromises and creative differences soon push the production into disarray.

There’s no denying that Something Huge takes a bold and different approach to comedy, blending mockumentary techniques with a whole load of meta-humour throughout, and as such making for a certainly interesting watch. However, as ambitious as it is in that regard, the film still falls apart in its principal objective: making you laugh, which means that despite its impressive ideas and style throughout, it does prove quite a dull watch in the end.

But let’s start on the bright side, with that unique, almost genre-breaking brand of comedy. You’ve seen mockumentaries before, with the legendary likes of This Is Spinal Tap standing as testament to how good the genre can be, and Something Huge too proves to be a thoroughly effective mockumentary, with an engaging and often entertainingly chaotic subject matter that focuses on a film shoot where everything that can go wrong really does.

Now, the difference between Something Huge and a film like This Is Spinal Tap is the delivery of that deadpan, mockumentary humour. This Is Spinal Tap has a certain chaotic glee to everything, constantly poking fun at every bizarre thing the band say and do, whereas Something Huge seems to take a slightly more neutral and arguably more serious perspective on its subject matter.

While the film’s most entertaining suit is its presentation of how a film shoot can go off the rails, and how the film industry can be both so restricted and yet all over the place at the same time, it’s that slightly more serious aspect that actually takes away from its overall fun factor, particularly when it features some strangely mean-spirited criticism of its main characters.

And that’s where the film really starts to fall by the wayside for me, because while it opens with a brilliant combination of deadpan delivery and strange meta-humour that makes it often feel like a real documentary, its descent into something that little bit more serious and less gleefully chaotic just isn’t something that made me laugh, and as it attempts to bring in a wider criticism of filmmaking and art in general, it slumps to a frustratingly dull and even depressing end, losing the entertaining and equally engaging chaotic energy it had in the early stages.

As a result, the way that Something Huge continues to try and make you laugh makes the film all the more frustrating, and despite its admittedly clever style and interesting ideas, it’s a film that just doesn’t have enough to carry out its rather lofty ambitions to perfection, and that’s why I’m giving it a 6.8 overall.