Comfort & Joy [DVD]

This is an adult fairy tale rereading of a dark chapter in Glasgow's history. Tonally, it's like a cross between a Richard Curtis syrupy rom com (although the guy doesn't get the girl) and an Edgar Wright take on The Godfather... It's silly and sentimental and not afraid of a happy ending. It has all the little observational elements that make Gregory's Girl so perfect, although the target (commerical radio) is not as universal and the central character (a DJ obsessed with his car) even less so. Watching it for the first time in 2021 it felt too old to be contemporary and yet not old enough to be a classic. It may well become a classic. I'd give it three and a half stars if I could.

I knew of this film and had seen some amusing clips from it in the past but wasn't sure if I had actually seen it. As it turned out I hadn't. Looking at it now it's difficult to see how it would have drawn people into cinemas to watch it when it appears to be no more than a TV movie at best. On a technical level the film print does not really stimulate you to watch. The clarity is fuzzy and the lighting is uniformly drab. The 'star' is the best thing about it. Bill Paterson is always good value. Claire Grogan looks uncomfortable and the rest of the cast is a who's Who of Scottish talent when they were just starting out. The real issue is the story which is not convincing at all. Yes I know Bill Forsyth is a quirky talent but this needed some rocket boosters to give the story a bit of oomph. I'm glad I watched it.There is a certain sense of the time in the mid 80's that it does convey nicely but as I said earlier I would imagine anyone who paid to see it in the cinema would have felt a bit short changed.

This wonderful gem is very understated and typical of Bill Forsyth's best work (see also Gregory's Girl, That Sinking Feeling and Local Hero however do take care to avoid Gregory's Two Girls like the plague a 0 star clunker).Dumped DJ Dickie Bird (the perennially excellent Bill Paterson) wants to be taken seriously and tries his hand at some investigative journalism. After seeing an attack on an ice cream van manned by Alex "Taggart" Norton and Clare Grogan being trashed he gets involved in an internecine ice cream war.A warm, amusing script coupled with an understated Mark Knopfler Score (bits of Love Over Gold for the record) and sympathetic direction/cinematography results in a great feel good film, a star is docked as feels a little dated.

Comfort and Joy is one funny film. That is, if you get director Bill Forsyth's quirky and dry humour. This is every bit as enjoyable as Gregory's Girl, Local Hero or That Sinking Feeling (three other Bill Forsyth classics I love and own). This was Forsyth's allegedly last decent movie before making the move to Hollywood where things went awry. Story's interesting too. A melancholy radio disc jockey who finds himself mediating between two rival ice cream families. Best bit would have to be Bill Paterson opening his car door one morning to find the front seat covered in ice creams! Why Comfort and Joy was underrated I'll never know for I found this movie to be both comforting and a joy (so to speak).

I'm a great fan of Gregory's Girl and loved this film when I saw it at the cinema in the early 80's. I was delighted to find it on DVD. It follows a brief period in the life of a pretty awful local radio DJ who gets dumped by his girl-friend and then by chance ends up in the middle of a turf war between Italian ice-cream vans.Like many Bill Forsyth films it is low-key, whimsical and thoroughly entertaining. It's like he look at the same world as the rest of us but through a kalaediscope.It's a great film for an evening in with a warm fire and a bottle of wine

I didn't appreciate this film when it came out. I didn't get it. But this transfer more than does it justice and the extras go a long way to explaining what I missed all those years ago when it first appeared. I like it a lot now, and I'm looking forward to watching it again. A little gem, given a good treatment.

Fantastic film. Highly recommend

Though flawed (Forsyth himself admits the screenplay should have gone through a few more drafts before filming), the film contains much of Forsyth's humanist and humane wit that made his earlier films classics. If you enjoyed "Gregory's Girl", "That Sinking Feeling", or "Local Hero", give this one a look.