Are medieval comedies suddenly in fashion? It’s just 18 months since Catherine Called Birdy , the Lena Dunham -directed film about a wayward 13th-century teenager played by Bella Ramsey , was a surprise hit. Now Seize Them! takes a stab at lightening up the Dark Ages. Starring Sex Education ’s Aimee Lou Wood as a spoiled, selfish and ousted English
Queen on a road trip to regain her crown, this is a Monty Python -esque hodge podge of poo jokes, chat about pies, and consequence-free ultra-violence that could only be made in
Britain. As such, it has assembled a cast of England’s finest, freshest talent, all of whom look like they’re having the time of their lives. Wood’s Queen Dagan is rescued by kitchen maid Shulmay ( Ghosts ’ Lolly Adefope ), who whisks her down the privy shute just in the nick of time as revolutionary leader Humble Joan ( Bridgerton ’s Nicola Coughlan , who I should add is
Irish, not English) storms the castle with cannon power, makes grand claims about the collective, and exhibits all the actual humility of Stalin. As they make their way to the sea in the hope of meeting Royal relatives and salvation, Dagan and Shulmay meet Bobik ( Nick Frost ), a simple-minded but affable “shit shoveler” who agrees to lend them clothing and support in return for an Earldom. Dagan laughs conspiratorially that of course she will never actually reward commoners. She is objectively awful, but Wood plays her with such an enjoyable innocence that the brattishness gradually feels like ignorance, and transforms into gratitude. Read Next Evil Does Not Exist is an apocalyptic eco-fable Right before things go horribly wrong, the three are the best of
Friends, drinking ale in a grotty pub, shoveling shit together and saving each other’s lives amid a procession of absurd murders in a spooky forest straight out of The Princess Bride . It’s the sort of acquired and very silly type of on-the-nose humour that works best after a few pints. Oh, a toe has been blown off – we can see the gristle but also the nail varnish! Oh, Nick Frost is suddenly talking in a posh voice instead of peasant grunts! Think Edgar Wright meets Chaucer. If this all sounds a bit derivative, that’s because it is, borrowing heavily from films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail . The script lacks the nuance of Catherine Called Birdy , relying too much on manure gags. But it is elevated by the highly watchable performances of Wood, Adefope, Frost and Coughlan, all of whom bring to it immense comic talent and who make the stakes feel real. There’s a growing feeling that actually it does matter whether this tyrant reclaims her throne from the commoners, and it’s fun too to see Coughlan, usually so genial, cast against type as the calculating Joan. Seize Them! will either be your cup of tea or it absolutely won’t. “It’s ludicrous!” as Dagan herself shrewdly observes. But for fans of films where it feels like the cast are practising their silliest sketches right in front of you, it’s a hoot.