Have we started this one already? I've been off work so I probably missed it.

Anyway, bit of a letdown in many ways, pleasantly surprising in a couple of others. Barely counts as a comedy in the same way that the previous two post-Spaced collaborations do, the joke rate is very low and the whole thing has an unexpectedly melancholy core. The formula is really creaking now though, with so many films in the wake of Shaun Of The Dead juxtaposing big silly genre film premises with provincial settings there's nothing surprising coming around the corner. It all seems a bit rote, like they've all outgrown it but aren't really sure how to move on so they went back to the well. And it suffers from a lack of focus; without a strong central film or group of films to riff off (Romero/Italian zombie flicks and Bruckheimer cop movies), it wanders around playing with a kind of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers thing but doesn't commit enough to make it work as a spoof or homage to that, and there wasn't really a whole generic movement that surrounded that film that audiences are familiar with.

That said it's nicely self-reflexive, if kind of self-indulgent, to spend a whole film that they're all probably a bit old to be doing exploring how they're too old for it. And Pegg's character was interesting in that he wasn't just Tim Bisley and was allowed to be irritating in (I thought) a good way. The nostalgia and still very apparent craftsmanship in how it was put together made it enjoyable to sit through, and it'll probably be less disappointing as a low-stakes TV or DVD watch. There's a good few nice little moments scattered throughout, though I think it just limped over Mark Kermode's 6 laughs rule for me. And in the end it just feels like a strange hybrid of pale imitation of their early stuff and an odd, but superior, TV comedy drama about a middle aged homecoming.

In conclusion, not great, but not a total disaster. Probably needs a second watch, in a few months when all the commotion dies down.