Four high school aged boys travel through the Scottish Highlands together in order to win the Edinburgh Award. Duncan (Lewis Gribben), DJ Beatroot (Viraj Juneja) and Dean (Riann Gordon) are good friends who, throughout the course of their short lives, have not exactly conformed to the expected behaviors of society. The three have been volunteered (or volun-told) to join their teacher, Mr. Carlyle (Johnathan Aris) on this trip in order to save themselves from expulsion and destruction of their futures. The three have little to no knowledge of how to navigate a map, how to survive out in the wilderness and, in general, how to survive outside of a modern setting (all things that the Edinburgh Award requires). A fourth, young and energetic youth, Ian (Samuel Bottomley) joins them of his own accord, and the four young men go on their way, determined to arrive safely at their destination. When the Duke of Edinburgh (Eddie Izzard), and his wife, the Duchess (Georgie Glen), find the boys on their journey, things turn sour. The Duke is nothing like they had expected and attempts, repeatedly, to murder them. Can the four boys survive their journey through an unfamiliar land, or will they Get Duked!?
Get Duked!, in many ways, is a jumbled mess. There are four or five stories going on at one time, and, as they begin to converge, it becomes difficult to fully understand everything that is taking place. The cluster-jam of a story is an immediate turn off and makes it difficult for viewers to focus on what is happening. Individually, it appears that each of the storylines have the potential to entertain audiences and keep them engaged throughout. Sadly, writer-director Ninian Doff attempts to force too much into an hour and a half, overlapping stories and diluting the film.
The young talent present in the film hold their own and allow some of the more mundane moments to become enjoyable and memorable. Even with as tough as the characters are meant to be, their innocence shines through and allows their presence to be entertaining. As brilliant as the young actors are, their chance at shining brightly and making a true name for themselves is overlooked by the overzealousness of Doff. Again, the overlapping stories hinder most everything else throughout the film and make it difficult to focus on, let alone appreciate, anything else in Get Duked!
The best part of Get Duked! is getting to see actors like Kate Dickie and James Cosmo step out of their roles in Game of Thrones (the roles that most of the world remembers them by) and deliver some silliness. It is sometimes hard to separate actors from the major roles they have played in the past, so, seeing both Dickie and Cosmo in comical roles--roles that are completely out of the realm of expectation by fans of the HBO hit show--was a bit refreshing.
It seems that Doff has a lot of potential as a screenwriter and director, but the fact that he was entirely too overambitious left Get Duked! on the edge of disaster. I struggle to find the appeal of the various characters and stories being crammed into one confused assortment of nonsense. The amount of mumbo jumbo being thrown at viewers at one time is difficult to absorb in an orderly fashion, leaving those viewers stunned and confused. Again, Doff shows potential, but tries too hard to bring to life too many things at once. Due to this, Get Duked! fails to provide the entertainment and laughs promised.
Written and Directed by Ninian Doff. Starring Samuel Bottomly, Viraj Juneja, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben, Eddie Izzard, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10
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