A film that has got absolutely nothing to give!

Any comedy starring Simon Pegg in the leading role will at least be worth giving a try. However, he does not have close friends and regular collaborators Edgar Wright or Nick Frost by his side this time but following previous performances in films such as Run Fatboy Run, Pegg certainly knows how to be in a decently entertaining comedy. Within A Fantastic Fear Of Everything there were uncertainties of what to expected how it was going to turn out. Therefore, it was rather mixed. Unfortunately, Simon Pegg stars in a film that is a catastrophe and is simply an all-round chaotic mess.


Based on the novella Paranoia And The Launderette by Bruce Robinson, musician Crispian Mills takes the role of both co-director alongside more sophisticated video director Chris Hopewell. Film director and screenwriter newbies usually start off well or earn Academy Award nominations but the lack of experience really got the best of Mills and Hopewell in A Fantastic Fear Of Everything. For this reason, the flaws were incredibly easy to notice. The story as a whole is rather corny and it simply did not know what it wanted to be to the audience. It is literally trapped between what could have been a hilarious and fun comedy or an intense thriller. Yet it could have been your vintage traditional horror-comedy.


There is no doubt Simon Pegg is truly one of the greatest living British actors and has performed in as well as written some of the most entertaining films of this generation. However, his performance as novelist Jack is perhaps at the very lowest standard of what he can do as he was neither funny nor sympathetic enough for the audience to find him an entirely likeable character. However, there was something rather interesting about Jack’s character that had not been further analysed on the screen. We get a minor understanding of how writers and even actors are influenced and affected by characters of their own creation. Furthermore, it partially shows the impact upon the audiences and how fictional and formerly real horror characters work. Simon Pegg’s role really was not anything that he is capable of doing and can perform a lot better than in A Fantastic Fear Of Everything. Seeing as Jack was pretty much the only character throughout the entire film, there were very few to include that were even call supporting characters. Hellraiser actress Clare Higgins portrayed Jack’s colleague Clair and Amara Karan performed as Jack’s possible love interest Sangeet. Considering that both were supporting characters, their appearances were irrelevant as neither of them served any purpose in this film whatsoever.


Overall, A Fantastic Fear Of Everything is truly an extraordinary film that perhaps tried to revolutionize a new type of comedy, but simply did not work and failed miserably. Where a film truly suffers the most is if it does not express to the audience what it is aiming to be to them. Therefore, it was not really anything at all. Pegg really has hit rock bottom in this role but he deserves and can perform at a much higher standard. There is no need to expect anything like works between both Pegg and Edgar Wright nor an individual Pegg comedy. So, it is truly a film on its own and if one is to somehow enjoy this, they will need to be the most open-minded people in the world with the most unorthodox sense of humor.

3/10