Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Allissa .Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Neil Welch Kenneth Williams was an English stage, radio and film actor, best known for camp roles in the Carry On films. He was also a homosexual who was desperately ashamed of, and unhappy about, his homosexuality and consequently remained celibate. He died in his early 60s, leaving behind a lifetime of diaries which told the personal story of this deeply conflicted man.It is a strength of this film that, notwithstanding that it is often very funny, the viewer is never far away from the dreadful contrast between the fun and happiness which Williams brought to others and the lack of happiness he enjoyed personally.The supporting cast here is fine, but the film belongs to Michael Sheen who loses himself in creating a Kenneth Williams for whom your heart breaks in a way it never did for the real person during his lifetime due to the way he kept himself so intensely private.

davideo-2 STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Kenneth Williams was arguably the most iconic star of the Carry On films, with his distinctive campy mannerisms, voice and facial expressions, along with a stuffy, uptight on screen persona that seemed to accompany it. But while he basically played himself on screen to great effect, behind the scenes he lived a solitary, troubled existence, as his diaries, which this TV film is based on, bared fruit to, leading up to his (fairly) early death at the age of 62.I've only just been getting into the Carry On films in the last year or so, but it didn't take me long to figure out which one my favourite star was, or who, it seemed, would have lived the most dramatic life behind the scenes and made the most interesting subject matter for a TV film. Fantabulosa (which, it seems, was a bizarre phrase Williams blurted out a premiere he attended!) plays less like a dramatisation of Williams's life and more of a dark, personal take on his diaries in which he seemed to have written his final thoughts. The colour is appropriately drained out through-out to match the darkness of the content. Possibly before his star ascended to the heights that it would do, Michael Sheen took on the lead role here and, if the film possibly didn't hit the mark quite like it could, the same certainly can't be said of his performance, which seems to be an inspired piece of method acting indeed. He does literally become Williams, getting his voice spot on and his mannerisms just north of perfect. The character he brings to life is a fussy, fastidious man, stuffy and uptight who could well come off as unlikeable to those around him if he hadn't been...well, him. Although he doesn't come off as the most bearable of people, his manic comic persona is enough to pass him off to others. The film also charts his struggles with his sexuality, which he seems to regard as a dirty, disgusting thing in general, confining himself to a solitary, lonely existence with only his mother and a neighbour for company. He is portrayed as a Howard Hughes type character, afraid of germs and spraying things like bedsheets down, as well as not sharing his toilet with anyone to maintain 'hygiene.' Somehow, the film doesn't feel all the sum of it's parts, but for an exposure of Williams's darkest inner thoughts and a great performance bringing him to life, it's well worth watching. ***

TheLittleSongbird To me, Kenneth Williams was a comic genius. I grew up on the Carry on franchise, and the performances of Williams always were one of the main reasons why I am so fond of them. That's not all, he was a fine comedian with a voice and mannerisms that were so distinctive. I was looking forward to watching Fantabulosa! since hearing so many good things about it, and while I was expecting it to be at least watchable, I honestly wasn't expecting something this affectionate and genuinely moving.A big reason why Fantabulosa! worked was the performance of Michael Sheen. Sheen is a brilliant actor, who always gives his all into everything he plays, and while I had no doubt he would be great as Williams, a tour-de-force of a performance I was not expecting. For that's what Sheen's performance is, one of sheer brilliance. He perfectly nails Williams' mannerisms without falling into the trap of falling into caricature, and the tragic elements to his performance are brought out to genuinely affecting effect.Sheen has a solid support cast too. We have Cheryl Campbell, who is excellent as the mother. There is Kenny Doughty, who does a fine job as Joe Orton. And there is also Peter Wight who is solid as always. The rest of the Carry On team give fun performances as well even if they aren't the main focus, Beatie Edney and David Charles especially are good as Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey and Ged McKenna is good enough as Sidney James, but at the end of the day it is Sheen who rides heads and shoulders above the rest. The drama is lovingly directed too, with both the comic and tragic elements well-fleshed out without being needlessly flashy.Fantabulosa! is beautifully shot, and the period detail is beautifully evoked. The background scoring is always sensitive and never over-bearing, also it fits perfectly with the mood of each scene. The script deserves a lot of credit; not only does it not allow the characters to fall into caricature or send themselves up and giving them depth and humanity in the process but the comic elements are hilarious and the tragic ones are poignant and sometimes painful. The story is episodic perhaps in its structure, but for me it doesn't matter when Fantabulosa! has as much involvement and heart as it does, and that the story based on Williams' diaries is that engrossing.All in all, wonderful and worth seeing for Sheen's magnificent performance alone. 10/10 Bethany Cox

bob the moo From his early appearance on stage dressed as a girl as a child, Williams was always one for the limelight and always a rather, well, mincing character. It was a trait he put to good use across his career in comedies ranging from Round the Horne on the radio to the Carry On films on the big screen. At one time he was popular across the UK and perhaps the world, with his harshest critic being none other than himself. Being dropped from Hancock's Half Hour for just doing funny voices, he worries that he will fade without ever blooming, but then along came Carry On Sergeant.To people of my generation, Williams is famous for his voice mannerisms and work on Willo-the-Wisp and his similar characters in the Carry On series of films. I watched this film to get a bit more background to the man and, although it doesn't do much to really get to grips with the man, it is certainly very interesting in painting a convincing picture of the man. Williams is presented as a rather peculiar man who is confused by his own sexuality, has a very close relationship with his mother, is viewed as a ponce by his father and was quite adored by his fans. The film ignores the detail of the Carry On films and barely shows his famous colleagues but instead focuses on Williams himself, spending a lot of time with him alone in his room, full of self-loathing, self-abuse and self-doubt. Although it is possible after the film to sum this character up into pigeonholes (as opposed to being an unique, real person) it is still interesting to get more information on what his life offscreen was like. It isn't a wonderful character study but it does enough.Michael Sheen is a big part of the film working because he not only gets the impersonation spot on, he only has the ability to go beyond that and get close to producing a real person. The narration helps him but in his scenes he still produces a real person (or at least as close as the material was going to get). He is the main show here but he is well supported by Campbell as his mother and various impersonations from Edney, Trenaman, Charles, Clarke and a few others.Overall an interesting and engaging film even if it doesn't totally get into the heart of character. Sheen's performance could easily have just been an impression but he does well to try and bring out more of the person behind the public personae. Not totally successful but interesting nonetheless.