Amazon.co.uk Review
The Martins is a very dark, but also very funny tale of the urban underclass in modern Britain. Lee Evans is Robert Martin, an unemployed dreamer who tries to provide for his family the only way he knows how--by entering every competition he can. When the prize of a holiday is snatched away from him he embarks on a
Falling Down-style wave of retribution, first on the local newspaper, then his son's school and finally the middle-class suburban couple who have "stolen" his prize. As he's shown in films such as
Funny Bones and
There's Something About Mary, Evans is an accomplished actor as well as a physical comedian, but the real revelation here is Kathy Burke, who imbues her character with a warm emotion and pathos as well as exhibiting the deftness of comic touch that we have come to expect from her. The simple but effective plot loses its way on a couple of occasions, but where the film really succeeds is in giving depth to a collection of characters who, while they may appear quite repulsive on the surface, are in reality just as human as the rest of us. Although it's worlds away from glib Hollywood feel-good comedy, in the end
The Martins does suggest that a little glimmer of hope can go a long way, something that makes this particular film all the more endearing. --
Phil Udell
DVD Description
DVD Special Features:
Feature length commentary with Director and Writer Tony Grounds and Director of Photography David Johnson
Kathy Burke and Lee Evans interview
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
"Laffs and Gaffs" - Outtakes from "The Martins"
TV and Radio Spots
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Trailer
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English for the hearing impaired
From the Back Cover
The Martins are the family from Hell! Robert Martin (Lee Evans) is an unemployed dreamer, He spends his life hoping to win competitions in order to give his wife and children all the things they deserve.
Angie (Kathy Burke - Kevin and Perry Go Large), Robert's adoring and long-suffering wife, just wants Robert to face reality. She doesn't want them to be the family people cross the street to avoid. Their two children and Katie, their heavily pregnant 14 year old, and angelic Little Bob, their 8 year old son who worships his well meaning but slightly unhinged dad. And then there's Angie's mum (Linda Bassett - East is East) who never tires of telling her unusual son-in-law exactly what she thinks of him.
One day, when Robert discovers that he has NOT won yet another dream family holiday of a lifetime, he decides to take matters into his own hands and steal one.
