"The Fairy" (The Guardian 29/06/12)

The Fairy (PG) 93 mins ***

As in their 2008 oddity Rumba, Francophone clowns Abel, Gordon and Romy here mix Tati-esque sight gags, physical theatre and divisive, Boosh-like whimsy: it’s the kind of film that delights in sending its principals – Abel’s loser hotel receptionist and Gordon’s eponymous barefooted kook – to the seabed to cavort with carrier-bag jellyfish. Juggling random motifs (scooters, lost dogs, the number 57), this threesome are content with sustained dottiness, where Tati shaped his skits into a far grander vision. Still, it’s meticulously slight: every set-up – whether life-threatening ketchup bottles or sausage-snatching migrants – yields its own minor rewards. 

The Fairy opens in selected cinemas from today.