Fisherman’s Friends 1 & 2

Shanties Inferno

Fisherman’s Friends
UK 2019
Directed by Chris Foggin
Fred Films Blu Ray Zone B

and

Fisherman’s Friends 2 -
One And All
UK 2022
Directed by Meg Leonard & Nick Moorcroft
Fred Films Blu Ray Zone B

These two films were Christmas presents for my dad but I was quite interested in seeing them for myself, as I like this low budget kind of British humour film. It’s based on the story of the real group of Sea Shanty singing fishermen, known as the Fisherman’s Friends, and their meteoric rise to fame. The lead singer, the grump middle-aged man known as Jim, is played by an actor I usually associate with more heroic roles, that being James Purefoy. Playing his singing dad Jago is David Hayman and another prominent band mate is Rowan, played by Sam Swainsbury.

When Danny, a record producer and promoter, played by Daniel Mays pitches up in their home town of Port Isaac in Cornwall for a friend’s stag weekend, he is egged on by his somewhat villainous boss (Noel Clarke) to sign the group, who they see singing in the harbour. Not realising he’s being wound up and also ‘talent spotting’ Jim’s daughter played by Tuppence Middleton, he does actually manage to sign them but, when he is told off by his boss and told to drop it, he realises he believes in their music and puts his job on the line to land the band their first record deal.

It hits all the usual boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy makes good and gets girl again stuff, while simultaneously hitting all the ‘band don’t want to be famous, give it a try, not so sure, oh alright then lets make an album’ marks and ultimately delivers an entertaining movie. It’s a light touch and all the main characters and their co-stars (such as Jim’s mum and grand-daughter) are all people you care about, which always helps enormously in this kind of film.

Covid and other delays to filming scuppered Fisherman’s Friends 2 - One And All for a while and I can only assuming juggling the various actors’ schedules was a nightmare and so this is probably what resulted in the absence of both Danny and Jim’s daughter for the second film (they’re on holiday in Australia for the duration and only mentioned in passing).

This second movie is not just a pale imitation of the first, surprisingly... and has a lot more drama including Jim’s prejudice towards farmers (they need a new singer in the band due to the death of a major character in the first film... a much missed character who is back as a ghost in this installment), his descent into alcoholism and a new girlfriend who has been through the whole fame and public meltdown thing that he also goes through in this story. Plus a high stakes rescue sequence and a really funny section where the band are forced to take lessons in how to be politically correct, courtesy of their record label (who promptly drop them).

It all leads to various sing songs and ‘label invasions’ (just like the first movie) before culminating in a sequence where, as in real life, the band get to support some pop singer called Beyonce at the Glastonbury Festival.

I’d have to say that, as much as I enjoyed the first one and especially the presence of May and Middleton, I actually preferred the second one a little more and I might even be coerced into watching these things again some day. Purefoy shines in them both, too. A great couple of ‘nice films’ that the British seem to have a knack for turning out... half way between drama and half way to comedy but, as always, with a real heart and soul to them. Fisherman’s Friends and Fisherman’s Friends 2 - One And All both get a recommendation from me and, if you’re in the mood for something typically English, then these are a nice way to pass the time.