June 6th, 2014: Pratfalls, mishaps, slip and falls, bad timing or just plain unlucky, call it what you will, accidents will happen. And for Rose the loving mother of Emma and Patrick and wife to Dave, these accidents have elevated her to the unlikely arbiter of deadly consequences. If James Bond is licensed to kill then Rose Clements (Elaine Glover), is unlicensed to accidentally kill followed by a heavy helping of clumsy murders remorse.
This hard working, mild mannered tax paying mother is in a bit of a pickle that her unique set of skills will inevitably turns into relish. Call her skittish, fidgety or even pensive in banal situations, Rose’s social anxieties have become occupational hazards of the worst kind – and that’s being kind. Morally reprehensible on all level Rose is at her wits end as she struggles to find answer to her deadly actions. Co-Director’s Tony Hipwell and Miles Watts penned the quirky black comedy of one nervous women’s quest to find a solution to her accidental killings with a twisted in “Whoops!”
On a leafy cul-de-sac deep in suburbs of a Northern city all vestiges of normalcy have left the Clement’s household. On the surface and to their kids and the outside world all appears squared away but Rose and dutiful husband Dave (Phil Rowson) are getting very proficient in the art of human disposal. You see accidents will happen and keep happening again and again and again. A broken heel, a broken down transit bus and a shady hooded passenger have left Rose scurrying home after closing up shop at her real estate job. Under the cover of darkness her situational anxieties start getting the better of her. The hooded runner who is fast approaching gets impaled in the jugular by the shiv like splinter from Rose’s broken heel. One problem, it’s not the menacing figure on the bus but a random jogger out on a late night run. Opps! Rose makes that familiar hysterical call to Dave who seamlessly transitions into disposal mode by doing all the heavy lifting – literally. Poor sod.
Although Dave professed to love honour and obey their marriage vows, reoccurring accidental deaths were never part of the union. Fortunately for Dave his building services and landscaping career is perfectly suited to bury the evidence. As the accidents continue unabated and the bodies start piling up Rose and Dave must get even more inventive in their disposal scenarios as nightly news bulletins echo the details of Rose’s latest mis-adventure.
Hipwell and Watts have crafted a cheeky little black comedy that never takes itself too seriously. This steely little cat and mouse-capade pits our two anti-heroes up against a crack team of police investigators lead by lead inspector Mary Hickson (Olwen May). Beautifully written in the vein of storied British satirists, writers Hipwell and Watts mine some of the best exchanges between Rose and Dave in their panic stricken rants. While Dave is always ready to offer a new self-defence claim as exoneration, Rose in her roundabout way looks for the silver lining in the midst of such carnage by donating the organs. On the strength of the writing and comedic timing between Elaine Glover and Phil Rowson, Whoops! Is the gift that keeps on giving. Which is not to say that Whoops! isn’t without its self-inflicted narrative hiccups. The movies coda seems more like a stand-alone afterthought than an integral piece of the larger narrative. And how our anti-heroes pulled off the high profile disposal at the police precinct was never ever explained.
Verdict: 3.5 out of 5: The randomness of a clipboard as a principle murder weapon would usually invoke bewilderment to most and yet the swagger of directors Tony Hipwell and Miles Watts pulled it off with a wink and a nod in this little Indie gem. Subtly baked deep inside the movies crust are the subconscious socio-economic fears all women face daily in our increasingly misogynistic and predatory world. The duality invested in the loving mother / klutzy murderess paradigm is never over played with standout likeable performances by Elaine Glover, Phil Rowson and the hard charging Olwen May backed by a strong ensemble cast. By capturing the appropriate comedic tone without crossing the line into dread, Whoops! is a bloody good time without incurring a massive cinematic hematoma.
Trip, stumble, slip or even fall your way to Whoops! It’s a bloody good time.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Language: English
Release Date: 2013
Director: Tony Hipwell and Miles Watts
Writer: Tony Hipwell and Miles Watts
Producers: Sam Robinson, Jan Robinson
Executive Producers: Dominic Brunt, Garry Greenwood, Herbie Lockwood, Jane White, John White
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Premiere: North American
Website: http://www.whoopsthemovie.co.uk/
Cast: Elaine Glover, Phil Rowson, Olwen May, Scott Taylor, Andrew Dunn, Paul Tomblin, Millie Chadwick, James Rooney-West, Sean Corey, David Kendra, Simone Lewis, Emma Keaveney, Arron Dennis, Shari Fox, Sally Boatwright, Gemma Curry, Amelia Tyler, Stuart Freestone, Tom Turner, Chris Smith, Julie Fountain, Sam Rowntree, Phil Gilchrist
