British writer-director James Kermack’s feature debut goes big on the angst of thirtysomething blokes and their eternal struggles issues with commitment and attaining self-knowledge, but it’s hard to hold a grudge against it given the energy of the direction and the charisma of its toothsome young stars. Matthew Stathers stars as the titular Joe, a professional children’s entertainer and hard-partying showboat who is determined to make it work with the lissom Ellie (Lizzie Philips), an aspiring dancer as quick on the quip as Joe himself. Although Gethin Anthony, Tom Bateman and a few other supports drift in and out of the story, the relationship between the two leads is the object of focus here as they go through the highs and lows of young love. The action unfolds almost entirely in one setting, a tatty pub decorated like a dilapidated squat, suggesting the material may have begun its life as a stage play. That might also explain why at times the performances are a bit too big and brassy, as if straining to be heard at the back of the room, but the briskness of their banter is winning and the leads have an undeniable chemistry. If only the emotional climax didn’t hinge on the revelation of a scarring childhood trauma, the tritest of dramatic devices.
