TV
The Wrong Mans
ABC1, March 12, 10pm
When broken-hearted council worker Sam (Mathew Baynton) witnesses a spectacular car crash on his way to work, he is drawn into a Hitchcockian conspiracy involving a kidnapped wife, a lost phone and several mistaken identities. Sam is, clearly, out of his depth. But we get the feeling that is somewhere he is used to being – he’s the sort of appealing, somewhat gormless no-hoper the Brits do so well. When he meets the even-more-hopeless but enthusiastic Phil (James Corden), the pair embark on an unlikely mission to save a beautiful woman, probably.
Inspired equally by slacker bromance Shaun of the Dead and thrillers such as Homeland, this is a funny comedy with a complex, breathless plot. Shaun is an apt comparison, I feel, because there’s a cinematic energy to the production that recalls the work of that film’s director, Edgar Wright. Baynton is immediately endearing, looking something like a hungover meerkat as he stumbles from one near-disaster to the next. His partner Corden (most recently seen in opera flick One Chance) is as engaging as always, his daft-sidekick patter reminiscent of a less-irritating Ricky Gervais. Together, the pair might just delude themselves into becoming heroes. Sharp, clever and genuinely hilarious, this is a darkly comic gem.
