A Deaf DJ?

This review is for a supposidly comedy film, a DJ is going deaf and tries to hide it. As my review states this is a watchable film even though there is too much drug use and swearing. One to watch on TV but not to spend money on.

FILM ONLY REVIEW

Frankie Wilde is a former musician who is now legendary on the DJ circuit over in Ibiza. He has a small problem though, he is loosing his hearing. He tries to hide the problem and get on with producing records and tracks, he has formed a band and is trying to break back into the charts. Unfortunately he cannot hide his deafness and he gets sent to a specialist who tells him he has to stop work or he will loose all his hearing and be deaf for the rest of his life.

Frankie is given a special hearing ad which is to be used in emergencies as using it will put strain on the ear drum and speed up the deafness. Frankie takes this to the extreme though and used the hearing aid to listen to his bands work with disaster consequences. He is now completely deaf.

Just how can Frankie get on with his work and music now he is deaf, is this the end of the legendary DJ?

I have only given a short outline of the plot and the story really does not get going until the second half so don’t be put off by thinking I have given the whole story away as this can all be found on the back of the DVD box. There really is much more to the story. I went into this film not knowing anything about it apart from the fact it is meant to be a comedy and a very good watch. Unfortunately I did not find it a very good watch and thought is was only average. The story was good but the inclusion of all the drug use and swearing really did put both me an hubby off.

There is a lot of comedy in the film, the majority of this is at the start when he is using the drugs but I did find that the majority of it was more on the daft and sick side rather than actual laughs. I did laugh out loud at some parts of the film but they were few and far between moments and really only at the silly things which happened. One element of the film was the illusions Frankie had when on coke and it was supposed to have been funny but for me I just thought it was taking the whole film a little too far and made it seem unbelievable.

I thought the acting from some involved was good. The lead role of Frankie, played by Paul Kaye was good, he managed to show a lot of sides to his characters and I am so glad he did not stay the drug using big headed idiot he was at the start of the film. Did not warm to or like him when he was like this and thought he really did need to be put in his place. He mellowed as the story progressed and I liked seeing a more emotional performance from him. The on screen chemistry between him and Penelope, played by Beatrix Batarda was lovely. She played a good woman who seemed to get on with her life despite being deaf, she never let things get on top of her and she was certainly a good calming influence for Frankie. I loved the way she was able to show strength and get her point of view across despite her disability.

One role in the film which really annoyed me was Max, he was Frankie manager and he was smarmy and arrogant and a pervert. He came cross in a very bad light and he really did lower the tone of the film. We did have some other good actors in the film who helped show the sensitive nature of the story well.

The film was set in Ibiza and as a result we did get to see some wonderful shots over the beach, sea and land, I enjoyed what we did get to see and would have liked to have seen slightly more of this side to the place instead of all the club scenes. The sets and props were all very good and in keeping with the story and setting. The costumes did not require much attention to detail as they were mainly swim wear and shorts. They were all of the modern variety and looked good for the film setting.

I did have an issue with the music in the film as I am not a fan of club music as to me it all just sounds the same. The whole film was packed with this but I did get over it as it did help to form the basis of the story and characters and I don’t think the film would have worked at all without it.

I am reviewing the film only so there are no bonus features to speak about. The running time of the film is 90 minutes and I did find this was quite long enough. The film does have a 15 rate and I have to agree with this as there is references to drugs and a lot of swearing.


I am going to recommend this film but only give it 3 stars. The story was good and so too was some of the acting. I found there was too much drug use and swearing for my liking and we were lacking in the good comedy but the second half of the film was a lot better than the first. I would say to give this a go if you can catch it on the TV for free but don’t waste money on the DVD.