What would you do if a friend turned up on your doorstep with a dead body? Well, that’s exactly what was going through the head of hardworking career man Frank (Patrick Knowles) as his day goes from bad to worse when his bumbling friend Jeff (Dominic Leeder) invokes a drunken friendship clause to get Frank’s help in disposing a human body, no questions asked. Soon enough, the zany Richie (Spencer Burrows) bursts onto the scene completing the moronic trio as the bodies and laughs begin to mount up.
At its core, Deny Everything relies on its characters chemistry in order to succeed and in that regard it hits the target. Frank, Jeff and Richie bounce well off each other within the story although the audience does have to disband a certain degree of belief in reality because it’s never really explored why these three are friends with each other in the first place.
You could consider Deny Everything as being the modern day British equivalent to the classic Dumb and Dumber. As our not-so heroes are attempting to haphazardly deal with their problem, they stumble upon the world of their hit-man next door neighbour, one which they definitely don’t want to be in.
With this being an independent title (from the brilliant mind of Writer/Director Michael Eden), it’s low-budget approach really adds to the overall feel of the film. Stripping back the gloss of Hollywood film about bumbling idiots and putting them in a very real feeling scenario delivers a much welcomed punch to its gut busting funny dialogue and interactions between our lead characters. A particular scene which takes place in a dimly lit dining room was a personal highlight. One could only imagine this happening in your neighbourhood.
Ultimately, Deny Everything is a very British affair. It would be interesting to see, for example, how an American audience would react to the punchlines. That should not, however, detract from the fact that for an independent passion project, Deny Everything had me laughing out loud for most of the film and smiling at its pure British quirkiness.
