'Get Duked!': A rib-tickling mocktail of horror-comedy owning your blues
Parents in the UK have a nice way of training delinquents about the hardships of life - that is joining the Duke of Edinburgh Award. This is how they 'man up' or subjectively put, find out their respective true callings by overcoming various hurdles. Get Duked!, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is all about that. And it's a horror-comedy we needed so earnestly.
'Hangover' weirdos just got their successors in this film
On-screen, you wouldn't have seen a weirder bunch of weirdos after Hangover. Only one of the four participants is sane. He is bright and really interested in this adventurous journey, believing he would take something monumental in the form of life lessons. He carries a writing pad, a marker and wants his team to check all its boxes about teamwork. But that's just him.
...And the loathsome gang who tickles you
Accompanying him warily are three teens, diverse in their offbeat approaches to life. There is one guy who remains high all the time. There is another blindingly white friend of his, who once stuffed a flush toilet with explosives and 'certain' material so that when he blows it up, it creates a swooshing noise. Finally, there is a rapper calling himself DJ Beatroot.
Is the 'Duke' craze real?
For the first 10 minutes or so, the film toys with the peculiarities of each of the lead characters, which somehow gets monotonous. There is Mr Carlyle, the erudite guide who blows a horn and flags their journey on the lonely Scottish Highlands. Suddenly, someone fires at the group, the banger verse "We are the murderous pair" booms and you ask for popcorn.
Find out: What all is on offer in this film
This is a carefully planned comedy that uses its gears just right on the plot track. What makes this film engrossing is the way it uses background plots to beef up the characters. Get Duked! makes you breeze through racism, investigative negligence, generational gap, artistic liberty and the undying thread of friendship married with drug abuse. Everyone approves the 'Highlands', after all.
The plus point? The actors, who nailed it
Most notably, none of the actors wastes their screen time. Co-produced by Tobey 'Spider-Man' Maguire, this film is prepared with lots of love by music video director Ninian Doff, who made his film directorial debut with it, besides editing it. Doff shows his video chops with a performance by the overconfident DJ Beatroot, loathing his stage name he took over a decade to invent.
Read this right, the way DJ Beatroot might
With a one-track agenda of winning the Duke of Edinburgh awards, this film teases well into the teen attitudes of making it big, often without thinking the future through. The dangers scripted in this film mock themselves, pranking the 'vermin' teens quite amusingly. Skim through for fun or perceive the undertones, Get Duked! is going to give you a break from stress. Rating: 4/5.
