DVD Review

From this month's DVD Review (by Henry Yates):

RABBIT FEVER - Not the sequel to Watership Down...

Brought to the nation's attention via an early episode of Sex And The City, the dual-action, bunny-shaped vibrator known as the Rabbit is now apparently a mainstay in the handbags of Britain's independent women (supposedly selling in greater quantities last year than appliances such as the washing machine and the tumble dryer). As a phenomenon, of course, this has "quirky-but-quickly-forgotten British comedy" written all over it, and writer Stephen Raphael has obliged with a straight-faced mockumentary investigating the Rabbit and its fallout.

Rabbit Fever should be awful, really - it's a one-joke movie that polarises its audience (inevitably, men will laugh less than women) and is neither lewd enough for the hen parties nor subtle enough to take seriously. Yet there's something strangely endearing about director Ian Denyer's execution that not only keeps you loafing on the sofa for the duration but also prompts a handful of genuine chuckles.

Over a light-footed two hours - and a handful of deleted scenes that should have stayed that way - we're introduced to the men who manufacture the colourful dildos, the women whose lives revolve around them, and the bruised egos behind the pleasuring. Indeed, the funniest moment comes when sidelined husband (played by Green Wing's ever-reliable Julian Rhind-Tutt ) reacts to his wife's new obsession by boiling her Rabbit on the stove, a la Fatal Attraction.

The acting helps. Bar a typically wooden cameo appearance in which Richard Branson announces free Rabbits on all Virgin Atlantic flights, the cast are generally convincing enough to carry the scenarios and, at its best, this gives Rabbit Fever a feel that approaches vintage Brass Eye. It all adds up to a diverting effort that deserves to cause a certain amount of buzz. ***

An endearing little comedy - get it in your handbag...