Review: Fantastic Fear of Everything

Simon Pegg stars as a children’s author who is struggling to break out of that mould of twee stories about hedgehogs. He wants to write something more sinister, a Victorian-era crime novel. Unfortunately, his obsession with fear has led to him becoming, literally (and actually- see what I did there?) afraid of everything. He can barely even leave his apartment. He has to, though, in order to get to a business meeting. But first he needs to go to the Laundromat to wash his one and only shirt. This journey proves surprisingly sinister and terrifying for him. Paul Freeman plays Pegg’s shrink, and Amara Karan plays a sweet young woman at the Laundromat whom Pegg inadvertently frightens.

 

When you first read the synopsis for this 2012 film from writer/ co-director Crispian Mills (who was the lead singer of Kular Shaker, to the two of you who remember that one-hit wonder band whose only hit was a cover of ‘Hush’) and co-director/production designer Chris Hopewell, it sounds like a can’t miss premise. And indeed, the first few minutes are quite clever fun, as are the comically sinister opening titles. The visual style, at least early on is amusing and dynamic (Check out the obvious “Psycho” visual cue with the eye). Simon Pegg is well-cast and gets one great line at the beginning; ‘There I am. Absolutely shitting it’. The idea of a children’s author who would rather write about death and forget that he was ever a children’s author is cute too.

 

But then you realise that either the concept actually can’t be stretched to feature length, or the filmmakers simply haven’t the imagination to stretch it out. My guess is it’s the second one, because there was potential here, it has a Douglas Adams vibe, kind of like the first few pages of “Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (the greatest book ever written), but neither Mills nor Hopewell are Douglas Adams’ equal in terms of imagination. A little of this goes...well, not very far at all. I mean, it takes forever to get Pegg out of the damn apartment, for one thing. It becomes monotonous and thin very quickly, through no fault of the game Simon Pegg in the lead.

 

It’s also a film that is far more interested in washing machines than I am, I’m afraid. And I would also rather listen to Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ (maligned in this film) than any hippity hop crap Mr. Pegg cares to offer up. His preoccupation with profane gangsta rap is odd, unfunny, and unnecessary. There’s a real problem with a film when you prefer the villain’s taste in music to the protagonist’s.

 

Overall this is awfully thin and quite disappointing. I’m just not sure what the point of it all was. No, this one just didn’t bring enough to the table for me.

 

Rating: C