Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Overlooked Movies: A Fantastic Fear of Everything (2012)


I generally enjoy Simon Pegg's movies, so when I came across this one from 2012 that I'd never heard of before, let alone seen, I figured I ought to watch it. Pegg plays a children's book author in England who's trying to sell a TV series about Victorian murders, and in the process of doing research for it, he reads about so many gruesome killings that he becomes paranoid and starts seeing murderers everywhere. It doesn't help that he's already plagued with several phobias, including (and this figures in the plot) going to the laundromat (or launderette, as those British folks call it). Things should start looking up for him when his agent arranges a meeting for him with a high-powered Hollywood mogul, but actually, they get even worse. Then, part of the way through, as often happens in Pegg's movies, the plot takes an unexpected 90-degree turn and it becomes a different sort of movie.

A FANTASTIC FEAR OF EVERYTHING is a dark, oddball, occasionally amusing but just as often wince-inducing little film. A lot of the time Pegg is on-screen by himself, so whether or not you like him will have a big influence on how you feel about the movie. I enjoyed it, but it's definitely weird. Bear that in mind if you decide to watch it. 

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