Hang The DJ
It's All Gone Pete Tong
There’s something inherently unappealing about movies set in Ibiza. Maybe it’s the incessantly pounding soundtrack. Maybe it’s those generic scenes of drunken revellers. Perhaps it’s those unpleasant memories of Kevin and Perry Go Large. It’s All Gone Pete Tong does little to dispel such unfortunate associations. Paul Kaye (better known as Dennis Pennis and now posing as a serious actor) plays Frankie Wilde, a hedonistic DJ who rules the roost on the Mediterranean island.
His is a classic riches-to-rags-to-riches tale. We initially see him at the top of his game, enjoying the high life of drugs, booze and group sex. However, Frankie’s pleasure-seeking ways soon catch up with him as his life starts to unravel; his wife Sonja (Magowan, in an uncanny impersonation of Posh Spice) leaves him, and to make things worse, Frankie loses his hearing �" something of a handicap to a professional DJ.
Having hit rock bottom in a haze of cocaine, Frankie finds a sort of redemption in the arms of deaf lip-reading coach Penelope (Batarda), and, in an absurdly contrived finale, sets out to spin records once more (in spite of his deafness). The film does have its strengths; Mike Wilmot gives an enjoyably ogreish turn as Frankie’s brash American agent, while the direction is fast-moving and imaginative. However, despite its flashy camerawork and feeling of energy, the film is a charmless affair.
Kaye’s is convincing in his posturing and swagger, but is too arrogant to elicit much sympathy after his initial downfall. The continuous bodily fluids that he produces fail to have any comic effect and, crucially, Ibiza has never looked so unattractive. The main problem with the film is the lack of any sort of consistent tone.
It starts off as a rock-mockumentary in the vein of Spinal Tap, with footage of the fictitious Wilde interwoven with reminiscences from real DJs such as Carl Cox, but this technique becomes more infrequent as the film progresses. Dowse tries to blend humour with tragic pathos, but the result is neither funny nor moving. The ending is patronising, and deeply insulting to the deaf community.
No review of It’s All Gone Pete Tong would be complete without mention of the six-foot imaginary cocaine badger, complete with pink apron, who confronts Frankie at his most drug-dependent moments. It seems that Donnie Darko has a lot to answer for.
2nd Jun 2005