Sound And Vision: Richard Curtis
In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week: Take That's Happy Now, (co-)directed by Richard Curtis.
Richard Curtis, who has written the screenplay to the new recent Netflix animation That Christmas, is a household name. He is the rare screenwriter whose name people actually could know, because of series like Mr. Bean and Blackadder, films like Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the self-directed Love Actually. Still, the sole music video he directed (co-directed with Tom Harper) might need some context for the non-Brits among us.
The first thing that needs introduction is the band Take That, a british boy band of teen heartthrobs from the nineties that never made it big stateside. They had big hits in Europe with songs like Back For Good, but like every boy band broke up when some members went solo. The success of one of them surpassed the band: Robbie Williams even got a biopic musical this year, that turned heads because his role has been filled in by a CGI chimp (yes, really). This film, Better Man, might even make Robbie Williams a household name in the states, after he never fully made it big there.
The second thing you need to know about is Comic Relief, a charity that was in fact co-founded by Richard Curtis himself, who in England is as well known for being a philanthropist as he is for being a comedy writer. Comic Relief is a charity that raises money to combat famine around the world. The main way they do that is via an annual telethon called Red Nose Day, often filled with cameos and performances of British comedians and celebs.
The music video for Take That's Happy Now was one of the band's first releases after a short-lived reunion that finally included the notoriously now-hard-to-get Robbie Williams. To celebrate this joyous occasion (at least for Brits) the release of the music video coincided with Red Nose Day, and was sold via iTunes to raise money.
The music video itself will leave everyone who is not British or a huge Take That-fan at a loss. The central premise is that the group is auditioning people for their own tribute band called Fake That (auditioning your own tribute band does not really make sense in real life, but oh well). The music video starts with some cheap jokes and pot shots. "This tribute band consists of the elderly, isn't that funny". After a few cover bands the flimsy story comes into focus. A group of well known comedians, at least in Britain, try to audition and won't take no for an answer. This group consists of comedians Alan Carr, James Corden, John Bishop, David Walliams and Catherine Tate, some of whom now even have some popularity stateside.
This premise is used as an excuse to let the comics parody several of Take That's music videos, like those for Do What You Like, The Flood, Pray and Back For Good. These parodies involve a lot of mugging for the camera. It is hard to believe any of the often great comedians thought this was particularly funny, or that a sharp and witty screenwriter/ director like Richard Curtis spent more than an afternoon to come up with this concept. Still, it is a well intentioned piece for a good cause (even though Red Nose Day is not without its detractors or controversies). But for almost everyone who is not the intended audience it is forgettable at best, alienating at worst. I wonder if this music video and reunion show up in the Robbie Williams-chimp biopic. But I doubt it, as telethons are fleeting, and this music video ánd the reunion scan as merely a blip in the momentous careers of almost everyone involved. It is best quickly forgotten, and luckily it mostly is.
