Two teenagers who bonded in hospital grow up and have to deal with the effects of their illnesses in a film that might have worked better as a sitcom
This awkward
British feelgood
cancer comedy by director Victor Buhler never entirely comes together, switching from serious to silly and not exactly comfortable in either tone or register. What Running Naked has got going for it are two likable supporting performances by Samuel Bottomley and James Senneck as Mark and Ben, teenage cancer patients who meet in a Manchester hospital. Bored and terrified, they make mischief on the wards. (There’s a funny scene in which they make a break for it, reaching as far as the carpark before realising there’s nowhere to go, and skulk back to their beds.)
Skip ahead 15 years, and the film is on shakier ground. Now in their 30s, Mark and Ben (played by Matthew McNulty and Andrew Gower, respectively) survived but live with an increased risk of developing cancer as adults. Mark is a doctor on the same ward where the pair were treated as lads. He’s the more successful of the two, but is held back emotionally by a nagging fear that bad things happen to him. So he laddishly dumps the love of his life, fellow doctor Jade (Rakhee Thakrar), before anything goes wrong with the relationship. Still, he’s loyal to his old mate Ben.