A comedy and dramatic movie that answers; Can the pain transform to humour?. This what Funny cow tries to do in her job. She works as a comedian in the night clubs of Northern England. She struggles as she has to remember her past to inspire herself.
14 July 1974, Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancashire, England, UK
17 July 1946, Annfield Plain, County Durham, England, UK
17 August 1953, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK
26 May 1981, England, UK
7 August 1940, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, UK
3 August 1973, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
April 30, 2018
In a time when far right attitudes are increasingly normalised, we have to ask ourselves, is it ever okay for a film to give audiences the opportunity to laugh at jokes that offer direct prejudice to minorities, regardless of the historical context?
July 27, 2018
Peake is excellent as this tough yet at times amazingly tender woman, and the film tells her story without pulling any punches.
July 26, 2018
If you can get through the depressing aspect, it does deliver a powerfully told tale of domestic survival that tugs on the heart-strings.
October 23, 2017
One of those intriguing but raggedy films that ultimately adds up to less than the sum of its promising parts ...
July 26, 2018
An impressive performance by Shameless' Maxine Peake is at the heart of this challenging, but sometimes compelling 1970-set British drama.
April 25, 2018
A story where nothing is learned or gained.
April 25, 2018
This film is interested in the point where hate and humour meet. Its protagonist is a real cow. I loved her to bits.
April 27, 2018
It's beautifully filmed and performed with energy and attitude. On the other hand, for a movie about a stand-up comic, it's relentlessly dour.
April 27, 2018
Despite being a little too schematic and in spite of the occasional cliché, this is powerful stuff.
April 23, 2018
Playing a northern working-class woman in the 1970s who tries to become a stand-up comedian, Maxine Peake gives a charismatic performance, but can't make up for the thinness of Adrian Shergold's drama.
July 29, 2018
An unflinching account of a woman desperate to survive, yet possessing no misapprehensions about how difficult her task is.
July 20, 2018
Funny Cow is unusual enough to hold attention, but nonetheless a misfire: incoherent, arty in the wrong ways and often bizarrely misjudged.
