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Directed by Katie Smith Starring Victoria Muldoon and Liam Bewley Short Film Review by Monica Jowett
Quirky comedy The Joke’s On You has Davina (Victoria Muldoon) and Mark (Liam Bewley) a couple living in London with their cat Mimi in an ongoing, and seemingly never ending prank war. But is it testing their relationship to a breaking point?
Written by Muldoon and directed by Katie Smith, The Joke’s On You is a fun film that provides a lot of smiles and shows that there is a child in everyone, and every adult relationship needs some humour and fun.
Davina and Mark constantly play pranks and jokes on one another, from squirting water on his trousers, or irreverently joking about what the other would do if they died. The relationship between Davina and Mark is fun to watch and also believable, as there are small moments when you think their behaviour would drive the other one mad. Yet these characters are clearly shown to be a great pairing.
The dialogue is entertaining and intelligent, the delivery deadpan and comic timing feels spot on for the film and space it has to work in. The two leads Muldoon and Bewley play their characters with charm and whimsy but still adding a little heart to their characters. This short film is a great example of dry British comedy, in a much lighter sense, with the quirkiness definitely played out to a tee.
The editing and cinematography adds to the fast paced, quick witted humour, using jump cuts to accelerate up the action. Though jump cuts can be seen as amateur, using them in this film makes it feel like part of the storytelling and central to the humour of the film. The original music from Neil Myers is also cleverly used, building on the light hearted and individual nature of the movie.
Muldoon has mentioned on the film’s Facebook page being influenced by Roald Dahl’s The Twits and some real life experiences, and there is definitely a feeling that Davina and Mark are a real couple somewhere playing tricks on each other for fun.
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