Have you ever each had a day so horrible that it felt just like the world was out to get you particularly? If that’s the case, you may relish the hilarious indignities inflicting the grumbling protagonist of The Ballad of Wallis Island. Written by and starring Tom Basden and Tim Key, this charming comedy facilities on the bond that builds between a (folks) rock star and an eccentric millionaire. However not in any manner you may anticipate, in that neither resides some enviably glitzy excessive life, they usually’re each shades of goofy.
Their story begins with Herb McGwyer (Basden), of the 2010’s folks rock band McGwyer Mortimer, arriving at a distant island, the place he is been contracted to play a non-public live performance for an obscene amount of cash. However the price ticket units an expectation that the host won’t meet. Not solely is that this island a little bit of a fixer-upper with no dock, a lot much less a harbor, however the non-public live performance is for an viewers of 1, a super-fan determined to reconnect to the music of his youth.
Removed from a highfalutin snob, the prosperous Charles Heath (Tim Key) is a humble man who wears waders to fulfill his well-known visitor, then by accident causes Herb and his baggage to tumble into the tides. It is a tough begin, and issues will solely get rougher for Herb when he learns that his ex-girlfriend/former bandmate Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) will quickly be arriving too — alongside along with her new husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen).
What ought to have been a simple gig rapidly turns into a cavalcade of embarrassments, forcing Herb to revisit the romance that outlined his work and his previous, and to reassess what he needs of his future. Unexpectedly, this story of rock stars and a millionaire super-fan is deeply relatable, warmly humorous, and profoundly candy.
The Ballad of Wallis Island encompasses a finely tuned comedy duo.
Key performs a lovable idiot who cannot learn the room however is fast to supply a bowl of rice pudding, even when that will not save Herb’s cellphone from its ocean swim. Basden is his straight man, exuding a self-seriousness that virtually calls for to be dressed down. This occurs fairly actually as Herb’s fall into the water forces him to desert his soaked-through cool man garments for Charles’ hand-me-downs, which embody live performance merch from McGwyer Mortimer. Think about working into your ex whereas sporting a T-shirt with an outdated picture of the 2 of you on it, and you will have some concept of the hell that’s Herb’s keep on Wallis Island.
Even dressed equally, the 2 are excellent foils. Herb is reedy, arrogantly stiff, and a pessimist, endlessly vexed by every new shock about Wallis Island, such because the revelation that it has no area, theater, or bandshell, so he shall be enjoying on a stone seashore. In contrast, Charles is portly and endlessly chipper, an optimist in search of to reconnect to the world by the music (and musicians) which have given him such pleasure, even within the laborious instances. They do not battle as a lot as Herb fusses and Charles rushes to assuage, solely to trigger additional frustrations. Basden and Key have the comedy steadiness of those two finely tuned, not solely as a result of they wrote the script but in addition as a result of this characteristic movie relies on their award-winning quick movie, “The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.”
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The quick’s director James Griffiths reteams with the pair for The Ballad of Wallis Island, and collectively they hone a extra subtle imaginative and prescient of their story, considered one of love, loss, and shifting on. Easy beats of Charles lacking the social cue are usually not simply hit however lovingly luxuriated in, making a type of cringe comedy the place we will giggle at this buffoon and acknowledge how usually we have been simply as bumbling. But these two join, as a result of as totally different as they’re, they’re lonely and yearn to not be anymore.
Carey Mulligan is neatly forged in The Ballad of Wallis Island.
Basden and Key have had years to regulate the steadiness of their comedic interactions as Herb and Charles. Nell is a brand new addition, not showing within the quick movie. Basden and Key fastidiously developed their script, weaving in Nell and Michael, who carry with them a breezy perspective and new issues for Herb. With a radiant smile and a chicly bohemian power, Mulligan strides into Wallis Island, confidently bringing a much less indulgent perspective that solely makes Charles and Herb funnier compared.
The three-time Academy Award-nominated actress does not outshine her co-stars. As an alternative, the lightness she brings as Nell neatly knits in pathos. It is easy to see why Herb fell for her, and why he nonetheless longs for her. In scenes the place they sing collectively, the viewers might be with Charles in wishing for his or her reunion, on stage and perhaps in love. But, Mulligan is cautious to not disclose an excessive amount of as Nell, who appears keenly conscious of Herb’s emotions and sagely conscious to not toy with them. The dance she does round his mercurial moods suggests a deeply developed intimacy that Nell nonetheless honors in some sense. Then, when the 2 sing collectively, the film shifts from foolish to sublimely honest.
However past this central trio, The Ballad of Wallis Island additionally boasts some shrewd supporting gamers. As Nell’s husband, Ndifornyen is sharp, fast to face up for his spouse and good to be suspicious of Herb. But Basden and Key are certain to present Michael extra to do than play romantic rival, giving him quirks that add complexity amid the conflicts. Then, there’s Sian Clifford, who could be greatest acknowledged because the tightly wound Claire from the good Fleabag. (“I appear like a pencil!”) Right here in Wallis Island, her vibe is extra relaxed as she performs Amanda, a pleasant however comically oblivious shopkeeper who’s mystified by requests for dried rice and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. (She provides a can of peanut butter and a espresso cup, as a result of Amanda is nothing if not obliging.)
Finishing the image of The Ballad of Wallis Island is a terrifically chosen setting. The island itself is cobbled collectively by a rocky seashore, winding footpaths, chipped paint homes, wealthy greenery, and a precariously positioned tennis courtroom. There are some indicators of wealth in its remoteness, amongst different outlying signifiers. Its rough-and-tumble attraction is properly suited to its resident millionaire, although an comprehensible frustration to its visiting rock stars. However simply as Charles grows on Herb, so too do the virtues of this less-than-cozy island develop on all of us.
Finally, The Ballad of Wallis Island will not be solely deeply charming and giggle out loud humorous for all its social foibles and comedy duo banter, however it’s additionally cathartic. The cautious crafting of the relationships herein makes for a narrative you may’t assist however get tangled in, maybe relating to at least one determine then one other. So, by the tip, as Basden and Key strike their ultimate chord of this masterfully charted comedy, you are feeling it reverberate warmly in your coronary heart, carrying you out of the theater with a tune nonetheless enjoying there.
The Ballad of Wallis Island was reviewed out of the 2025 SXSW Film Festival. The film’s theatrical launch will comply with.
