Critic Reviews

Doff balances tones amazingly and directs visually striking scenes with gusto and confidence. His writing subverts expectations while remembering to be a story about humans, all the while being an exciting, nonstop laugh riot. All that makes the film more than worth watching. Then you add this truly outstanding cast who effortlessly embody their characters, and you have nothing short of a masterpiece.

“Boyz in the Wood” is a jolt of irreverent fun that wants you to laugh at the stupid and depraved behavior of teenage boys but also to know that at the end of the day, the kids will be all right.

That kind of all-around ineptitude puts the Get Duked! ensemble in the company of such classic Zucker and Abrahams movies as “Airplane” and “The Naked Gun,” and should appeal to lovers of old-fashioned lowbrow farce, provided they’re willing to accept a few lame hip-hop references.

Wacky, smart, engaging and exciting, Get Duked! represents the next step in the Wright/Cornish school of 21st Century British comedy.

By mixing slapstick humor, outright silliness, and a psychedelic edge, Doff trades tension for laughs. He also has a political point to make about class divisions and the haves-and-have-nots.

Boyz In The Wood is the hippest, wildest, most energetic genre blowout to come from the UK since Attack The Block.

Doff’s directorial debut bursts off the screen with eccentric energy and yet, retains a relentless sense of duty to the company its characters keep. It’s effectively touching as a display of camaraderie, equally ridiculous, and a great deal of fun.

Get Duked channels both Trainspotting and Deliverance to create a scattershot shotgun-blast of gags, gore and bedlam. Winningly performed by its young cast, it’s a (laminated) calling card for director Ninian Doff.

So even though Get Duked! is a slapstick, rap-fueled horror comedy about a bunch of Scottish inner-city kids being hunted in the glens by a pair of rich snobs disguised as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, you could slap a "Filmed at Ealing Studios" card at the end, and you'd know exactly what to expect.

Doff may have thrown in a kitchen sink of clichés, but he knows exactly how to marry them together. The result is an endearingly uproarious affair.