SXSW 2021 REVIEW: Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break

Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break (2021) is an English comedy film. It was written by Brook Driver, Nick Gillespie, and Matthew White. It was directed by Nick Gillespie.

Paul Dood (Tom Meeten) is an ordinary guy who harbors dreams of superstardom. Paul lives with his mother Julie (June Watson) and their cat Rocky. He works at a resale shop, and takes care of his aging mother. He also is a performer who sings and dances for his audience of twelve followers on Trend Ladder, the hottest social media platform in the UK.

While his mother is endlessly supportive of his efforts, almost everyone else in Paul’s life considers him a joke. His coworkers at a resale shop don’t share his mother’s appreciation for Paul’s talents. Simon (Lloyd Griffith) constantly mocks and pranks Paul. His boss, Jayney (Pippa Haywood) is an amateur psychotherapist who is always trying to psychoanalyze Paul without the benefit of any training, or education. The only person who sees Paul for what he really is, is Clemmie (Katherine Parkinson), a technician of the custodial arts who works in the shopping mall where Paul’s thrift shop exists.

On this particular day, auditions are taking place for a national talent show, and Paul has designs on winning the competition. Only trouble is, he got the dates mixed up and doesn’t find out until the auditions are almost over. Scrambling to get out of work and get down to the tryouts in time to make the cut, Paul has to split out of work, go home and pick up his mother and get down to the theater where the tryouts are being held. However, a cast of colorful characters intervenes at every step of the way, hindering Paul and his mother from making it in time.

When they finally arrive at the theater, they find the auditions have ended, and talent show host Jack Tapp (Kevin Bishop) is about to leave. Tapp is about to give Paul the boot, when it is revealed that Paul is live streaming this whole thing on Trend Ladder. Not wanting to have his reputation tarnished, and have himself outed as the genuine asshole that he is, Jack agrees to let Paul audition. When Paul concludes his performance, Tapp asks him to end his live stream so that he can give Paul some candid advice. When Paul ends the stream, Tapp rips into him, and tells him how terrible he thinks Paul’s audition was. Paul advances on Tapp, frightening him. As Jack and his manager Gary (Chris Willoughby) make their way out of the theater, Gary informs Paul that his mother has died.

With this grim news, the first act of Paul Dood’s dark night of the soul has concluded. Paul has lost both his mother and his dreams, despite having done seemingly everything in his power to be successful. There is nothing more dangerous than a man with little to win, and nothing to lose. Paul, finding himself in this unenviable position decides that the people who interfered and caused him such tremendous loss must all pay. And they will do so, live on the internet, for Paul Dood’s audience of twelve followers on Trend Ladder.

Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break was my first screening of SXSW 2021, and what a way to open the festival it was. It was funny, and heartwarming. There are a lot of great laughs, a little bit of gore that should titillate horror fans, and on some level the film has something to say about the global society in which we all live in some part today thanks to the internet and smartphones. A smart, gory comedy that includes subtext? Okay, I’ll bite.

I can’t really describe it as a road picture, despite the fact that Dood does have to travel to achieve his goals. And when he does leave his home, things change so much so rapidly, that he can never really go home again, despite the fact that he can and does just go home. But after losing your dreams, your sense of self worth, and the only family you’ve got, all in the course of one afternoon, could one ever really go “home” again? I mean, home is a concept, a house is a thing. One can always go to their house. However, one doesn’t always necessarily have a home at their house.

So this film is a bit of a road picture. Skeletally similar to films like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1986), or Motorama (Barry Shils, 1991), the film is populated with a variety of colorful characters who impact Paul’s journey in one way or another, mostly negatively. However, despite the interference and persecution Paul receives at the hands of the denizens of the film, Paul’s gaze is never removed from the prize.

The film is also a revenge picture, somewhat akin to films like Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003), Payback (Brian Helgeland, 1999), and Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967). However, Paul Dood manages to successfully subvert the conventions of the genre with its humor, and the fact that its protagonist is virtually incapable of committing violence, despite his thirst for blood. To be clear, one shouldn’t be looking to Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break to subvert revenge conventions in the same style or with the same degree of success as Point Blank. However, it does its own thing just the same.

One of the things that makes Paul Dood successful it the affability of the characters. Dood is completely lovable. He might be idealistic, and a fuckup by most real-world standards, however, it is hard not to like the guy, and I found myself immediately on his side. The same goes for all of the “good guys” in the film. All of them lovable. But what about the bad guys, you ask? They too are a ton of fun. From Jack Tapp to Rexsan (Johnny Vegas), to Kath (Alice Lowe) and Bronson (Kris Marshall), all of the characters are bright and fun, even though there is darkness at the film’s core.

Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break. Is it going to blow any minds or demolish any box office records? I doubt it. But I gotta say, it’s pretty fuckin’ solid. It is crass at times, and violent at others, but it is not so much either of these things that I would worry about showing it to my kids. At the very least, it should put a smile on your face.

If one wanted to get totally serious about it, it might make one reflect on how modern technology today seems to be making people feel increasingly depressed, unhappy, lonely, isolated, and suicidal. Or perhaps you may find reason to reflect on the predatory nature of the entertainment industry. Chewing people up and shitting them out in exchange for their paltry fifteen minutes of fame.

If you are feeling extra frisky, the film might make you consider the meta-ness of the film’s title character, and his lack of “success” as a middle-aged man with aspirations to be an artist, and the fact that he is portrayed by a middle-aged man for whom mega-stardom and A-list status has eluded him, despite that fact that he has been working successfully at his craft for years. Which is a bummer because Meeten looks great, and can obviously disappear into a role. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more of him down the line.

Or, if you are one of those “turn off my brain and enjoy the movie” types, you needn’t bother with any of that lofty, faux-artsy shit, and just laugh at all of the ridiculous absurdity as it unfolds. Any way you slice it, Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break is a funny, bloody, sweet, and somewhat poignant comedy about fame, love, and revenge. It’s kinda like that last DEVO record. Y’know, something for everybody.

P.S. Sadly, there was no extant trailer for Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break that I could find. In lieu of a trailer, I have magnanimously decided to hook you up with the (basically) title track from that DEVO record I was talking about. Enjoy!