There are echoes of Shane Meadows and the Coen brothers in this cheerful crime comedy set in the Fens in eastern England. It’s endearingly daft and unexpectedly charming for a film about small-town drug dealers full of knob jokes – and contains no actual violence from criminals who are more crap than nasty. There are some sparky performances from the young cast, and it manages to pull off natural, easygoing laughs without the cringe that often seeps into British comedies.
Ethaniel Davy is brilliant as Jayce, who has just been released from 10 months in a young offenders’ institution – wrongly convicted for crashing a stolen car. Now that he’s out, he wants answers. What everyone except Jayce knows is that it was his best mate Lee (Ramy Ben Fredj, also terrific) behind the wheel of the car. Lee is the heir to a battery-chicken farming empire with links to organised crime. His dad, Lee Sr, has just remarried and sent him to live in a caravan at the edge of the family estate. Lee Jr is thick and spoilt, an adult man with a toddler brain, but like everything in the film, rather sweet underneath it all.
Meanwhile Jayce and his old schoolmate Paula (Amelie Davies) get roped into a drug deal, joining forces with retired busybody Kev (Graham Fellows). Kev has somehow (plot is not this film’s strong point) ended up with a shed in his allotment full of high-quality weed. The unlikely friendship between the two kids and Kev gives the film some of its funniest lines. In Kev’s front room, Paula is mesmerised by his carriage clock, a retirement present. “Is it ironic?” she asks, genuinely curious. “No, it’s brass.” And the final moment of comedy, a scene involving a joke about Kev’s 67-year-old bladder is priceless. This is a very likable film.
• Chicken Town is in UK cinemas from 27 June.
