Review: FILM CLUB: AN IMPROVISED COMEDY at Revolution Bar

Film Club bring their own twist on the film genres you love to the Edinburgh Fringe. The idea is simple, the audience shout out their favourite films and the group choose one film, take that genre and flip its most stereotypical tropes on its head.

With this performance things do take a while to get started, taking a genuine ten minutes to begin the main part of the show. However, before they do get to the improv the gang select Blade Runner as their film of the night, therefore making dystopian future/sci-fi their genres for the night.

Things kick off with a pretty funny sketch about a man programming a robot to infiltrate a gang but he just can't quite get the programming right, leading to a womanizing artificial intelligence with a knack for giving compliments.

It is a great start to the show and one that encapsulates the groups ability to come up with ridiculous situations on the spot, as well as allowing for the group to show their natural chemistry with one another, bouncing off of each other and getting a good few laughs along the way.

As the show continues Film Club can occasionally feel like they are drifting from the genres they had chosen for the evening, getting to a point where the sketches don't necessarily feel like tropes that are specific to the sci-fi or dystopian genres. Moreover, it can also feel as though the gang stick a bit too much to robots throughout the show.

In spite of these issues, however, the group always do create sketches that get laughs from the audience. A particular highlight includes a sketch which pokes fun at the vagueness of movie dialogue.

By far the greatest sketch of the show comes right towards the end when someone finds out they are a robot via a blood test. It is a hilarious sketch filled with ridiculous ideas but ones that show just how silly the genres we love can be at times.

Film Club: An Improvised Comedy isn't a perfect show but it is a nice breezy hour of comedy which supplies plenty of laughter throughout. If you are a fan of movies or comedy or both then this is the show for you.

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