Fishermen’s Friends - 2019 - 6/10

Crowd pleasing yarn of Cornish fishermen who sing shanties, get discovered by a label rep.
Brits have these films down to a formula. When they work, the trans-Atlantic crowd goes wild.
Other times, the stories fall flat or feel forced.
This is good, reminiscent in places of The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill, other times Waking Ned Devine.
With ten men in the group, most are given one-liners and sharp retorts. Most of these zingers are funny and strike home.
The label rep is truly out of his element, a well-intentioned, and not overly stuffy, Margaret Dumont type.
Plenty of songs with layered harmonies. Predictable to a tee, fine if you are in the mood.

Aft deck:
^

For years, at the record shop we had a regular who rolled in looking for sea shanties.
The guy was a caricature of a retired tar.
Built like a fire hydrant, he sported an English naval cap and a thin tee shirt over a massive gut.
Whatever the shirt, there was always permanent spillage cascading from his top deck to Davy Jones locker.
If he had toiled in the navy, then it must have been manning the bilge pumps because he was near deaf.
His sea shanty requests were always barked or shouted.
One of my coworkers named him Poopdeck Pappy and the tag stuck.
Most employees hid, but there were always a few - ahem - who had a soft spot for wackos.
Now and then, browsing import catalogues, I came across CDs of sea shanties and ordered.
Poopdeck always bought.
I think he would have liked this film. Probably sing along, too, causing shipmates to mutiny.
^