Janice Beard 45wpm Review

When she learns of an expensive treatment for Mum's psychiatric condition, Janice (Walsh) takes a job as a temp, has kooky adventures in the office, and meets the equally odd Sean (Ifans), who claims to be a spy - when he's not working the postroom.

by Mark Dinning |
Published on
Release Date:

19 May 2000

Running Time:

81 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Janice Beard 45wpm

A bizarre hybrid of Ally McBeal and Billy Liar, this rambling fiasco's eponymous heroine (Walsh) is a kooky (read irritating) dreamer who spends her days wallowing in a glossy fantasy world. However, on learning of an effective, but expensive, treatment for her mum's agoraphobia, she secures herself a job in a London typing pool supervised by the catty Julia (Kensit).

Naturally enough, it all leads to a plethora of quirky (again, read irritating) antics, not least of which being Janice's relationship with the hapless post boy, Sean (Ifans), who - and get this "zany" twist - also happens to be a spy. Even in safe hands this script was never going to satisfy, but that's not to say that everyone else involved should get off scott free. Indeed, the black marks on CVs should be prominent and long lasting.

A half-baked laughter wasteland, packed with one-dimensional characters and a plot so preposterous that it even features a cure for the aforementioned disorder straight out of the "slap-and-stop-it" school of psychotherapy. Tragic.

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