I saw clips of this on TV and thought it looked like a reasonable looking comedy, but then I forgot that I had heard about it before somewhere, so I certainly became keen to see it. Basically on the Goonbred Estate somewhere in London lives young wannabe bad boy Kenneth (Kidulthood's Adam Deacon, also directing) or 'Kay' as he prefers to be known, he thinks he has all the moves and swagger, but he is just deluding himself to realities. He works for Laimsburys and ends up getting punched trying to act hard, and he quits his job after being insulted by Russell (Richard Blackwood),followed by his family being skint and bailiffs coming round. Hoping to fix his problems Kay starts selling weed, and when he finds out he is selling on his turf Tyrone (Richie Campbell) starts terrorising Kay and his friends, nicking their money and stuff, including a Sony PSP from Lesoi (Michael Vu),some sneakers from T.J. (Jazzie Zonzolo),a phone from Bookie (Femi Oyeniran) and a Spanish-English journal from Enrique (Ollie Barbieri). Because of him being a wasteman and allowing these things to happen Kay's friends ditch him, and to get them back he decides to sneak into Tyrone's to steal back the stolen stuff, and this is while he is in the house making love to his bitch Maria (Big Brother 7's Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace). Tyrone ends up caught by his real girlfriend Tasha (Little Miss Jocelyn star Jocelyn Jee Esien) having sex, and when he finds out that he was set up by Kay he is vex and goes to beat him up severely, and that is when the friends come aid him, only to end up getting beaten themselves. But Tyrone's boss, one of the biggest serial gangsters in London, shows up and breaks up the fighting, putting him in his place, he tells Kay and his friends if they get bullied by Tyrone or his gang again they should inform him. In the end Kay and his friends have their lives return to normal, he gets his job with Laimsburys back, and he meets the beautiful Shay (Mz Bratt). Also starring Ashley Walters as Cracks, Dennis Pennis's Paul Kaye as Tony, Dead Set's Jaime Winstone as Yasmin, Terry Stone as Terry, Eddie Kadi as Tunde, Jason Maza as Darren, Carmell Roche as Kesha, Birds of a Feather's Linda Robson as Pauline, Smack the Pony's Doon Mackichan as Patricia and Lethal Bizzle as Lloyd. If I didn't know I would think that this film was spoofing all the recent British teenage dramas, Kidulthood, Adulthood and 4.3.2.1 for example, it certainly gives us some great laughs with the stereotypical characters with their chavvy attitudes, street lingo and what they get up to, with a good cast of recognisable actors and a witty and very funny script this is a very watchable urban comedy. Good!

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Kenneth (Adam Deacon) likes to try and play the big man, but his front usually gets dashed pretty quickly. Unable even to hold down a simple job at a super-market (Laimsbury's!),he takes abuse from his mouthy mum who's fallen behind with payments and having trouble from the bailiffs, and has to duck and cover from the hyper hard man on the estate who's out to put him down. Until a chance encounter dealing some stolen weed brightens his prospects a bit, as well as making a new friend in a Spanish relation of his uncle's. But it's all building up to go wrong, leading Ken to a final showdown that will test his will as a man.

Kidulthood and Adulthood have become cult films of their time, high-lighting the modern 'urban street culture' a lot of the modern youth follow, in particular the fashion sense and slang. So Adam Deacon, star of both films, is in a good position to make a film sending them up. Which is why it's so surprising the result is such an amateurish effort, that fails where something like Ali G Indahouse worked. Both of Noel Clarke's sink estate dramas aimed to pull no punches and dive into the unflinching underclass of 21st century Britain. This meant that, while good films in themselves, they were mostly quite downbeat, grim viewing. So it was welcome that the next 'hood' effort would be a more light hearted affair. Sadly, you can see most of the jokes coming a mile off, and too much of it feels forced and over the top, with inconsistent characters, including a villain like Wesley Snipes from Demolition Man on steroids, and some random, pointless characters being introduced and then never heard from again. That's not to mention most of the dialogue being spat out so ridiculously loud and fast you'd do well to pack some Alka Seltzer on your trip to see it. A disappointing mess. **

Similar sentiments appeared to be echoed by Noel Clarke, as this semi-spoof of his two Hood films caused a clash between Clarke and Adam Deacon on Twitter. It's a shame it overshadows Anuvahood, because it's an easily watchable film that flies along like all good cartoons do, even though it's nevertheless an odd mix.

While fairly amusing, subtlety is not in evidence here. Deacon's character works at a supermarket called Laimsbury's and all concerned roll their eyes, overplay their dialogue, exaggerate body language... it's a full on sillyfest where even Big Brother's Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace is on hand to spoof her own Big Brother catchphrase, pretend to receive cunnilingus and reference Mike Tyson. Fun for what it is, if you're prepared to get in on the gag, but never possessing anything remotely resembling reality or intelligence.

And yet... fifteen minutes before the end the whole thing changes. Not only are we suddenly supposed to believe in, and care for, Deacon's band of two dimensional comic misfits, but the violence is ramped up. And this isn't comic violence, as demonstrated throughout the film, but sickening, graphic bloodied violence that makes Kidulthood and Adulthood put together appear tame.

It's an unusual decision that throws the film completely, like having the climax to Reservoir Dogs serve as an ending to Laurel and Hardy's Way Out West. Sure, other cartoons have gone in for face-distorting occurrences... but after Tom's face was smashed in by an iron he could always put it back to normal two frames later.