Moonwalkers (2015)

Dir: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet

It's less than two weeks away from the Apollo II moon landing. The C.I.A., concerned that any mishap with the space flight or landing could set the U.S. back in the cold war with the Russians, has hatched a plan. If Apollo II is unable to complete their mission then success will be faked. Crazed, hallucinating Vietnam war vet Kidman (Ron Perlman) is to travel to England and convince film maker extraordinaire Stanley Kubrick to film a fake moon landing that can be cut to if Apollo II fails. Kidman sets off with a briefcase of money.

Meanwhile, lovable loser Jonny (Rupert Gint HARRY POTTER series) is struggling in his duties as a manager to get his rock band noticed. He's borrowed a few bob from local mobster Dawson (James Cosmo BRAVEHEART) and Jonny's time to land a recording contract for the band is running out. It doesn't help that the lead singer Glen (Eric Lampaert) touches himself onstage while belting out such songs as 'Take me to the zoo, I fancy that rhino'. Or that Jonny has a terrible knack for booking the band at the wrong type of venue.

Desperate and with Dawson's thugs ready to break bones, Jonny turns to his successful, coke snorting cousin Derek (Stephen Campbell Moore THE CHILDREN) for help. It just so happens that Kidman, posing as a Hollywood producer, also shows up at Derek's office looking for a meeting with Kubrick. Eyeing Kidman's briefcase of money as salvation, Jonny convinces him that he can set up a meeting with Kubrick. Enlisting his hairy drug addled roommate Leon (Robert Sheehan MISFITS television series) to pose as Kubrick during a meeting with Kidman, Jonny is able to fool the flash backing agent to hand over the case. Thinking that a dumb out of his element Yank like Kidman will never find the duo, they splash money around boozing it up. Dawson's informers spot the hapless pair and the next day his goons pay a visit to their flat and confiscate the briefcase of cash. Later, their luck taking an even worse turn, Kidman finds them intent on torturing and killing them.

If you squint really hard, he does look a bit like Kubrick

Jonny, grasping the dire situation that he and Kidman are in, proposes a solution. He'll ask the arty-farty Bohemian Renatus (Tom Audenaert) to direct the film and enlist the hippies and yippies crashing at his mansion to build sets and costumes. Seeing no other option, Kidman agrees.

MOONWALKERS is a clever twist on the old conspiracy theory that the moon landings were faked with footage created by Stanley Kubrick who was chosen because of his film 2001. It is often low brow in its humour, vulgar, packed with T&A and violence, and with numerous nods to Kubrick's films (especially A CLOCKWORK ORANGE); it's a blast. The dumb humour, predictable situations (the stone cold Kidman accidentally taking acid), and throw away jokes all worked for me. Even the bloody shootout at the end which could have been taken from a John Landis script. Perlman's performance anchors the crazed and oft over the top characters that orbit him. I was really surprised by Rupert Grint's acting. It is spot on for this type of film and he acted like he was channeling Robin Askwith which is perfect for this throwback to the saucy British comedy films.

*** out of ****