Funny Bones (1995)

Tommy Fawkes (Oliver Platt) is the son of rich and famous comedian comic George Fawkes (veteran comedian Jerry Lewis). He tries to live up to the reputation of his egotistical father, but he’s just not funny and bombs on his opening night in Vegas.

Golden childhood memories prompt him to run away from the States to the British seaside resort of Blackpool, where he was born and lived happily for the first six years of his life.

Posing as a talent scout, Tommy auditions local music hall-type acts to find material to plunder.

There’s a guy who dances with biscuit tins on his feet, and then there are the Parker Brothers – Bruno (Freddie “Parrot Face” Davies) and Thomas (George Carl) – whose very demeanours bring guffaws.

Tommy’s life becomes entwined with the Parkers and with Bruno’s ex-wife, Katie (Leslie Caron), and her talented and troubled son, Jack (stand-up comic Lee Evans in his feature film debut) – a “bonafide maniac” and possibly a killer – who turns out to be Tommy’s half-brother.

Flashbacks (some in black & white) and old home movies reveal more about various characters.

It turns out George Fawkes stole the brilliant routines of the Parker Brothers to build his own career in America after he had bedded Bruno’s wife and produced Jack.

It’s a fascinating (over two hours long) look at the joys and horrors of showbiz and the fine lines between success and failure and genius and madness.

The circus, magic acts, carnival rides, a spook show, valuable smuggled wax eggs and feet stolen from a morgue are all part of the complex story.

There are lots of surprises and a dazzlingly stunning, amusing and heart-stopping finale.

What doesn’t work is a subplot involving Oliver Reed as Dolly Hopkins, an over-the-top evil transvestite who is importing a mysterious youth potion from the Orient.

The $20 million film was produced by the Disney Corporation’s subsidiary Hollywood Pictures.  It’s a mini-masterpiece that’s at once morbid, funny, eccentric, surreal and utterly engaging.

The soundtrack features blues classics by John Lee Hooker and others.

Tommy Fawkes
Oliver Platt
George Fawkes
Jerry Lewis
Jack Parker
Lee Evans
Katie Parker
Leslie Caron
Jim Minty
Richard Griffiths
Poodle Woman
Sadie Corre
Dolly Hopkins
Oliver Reed
Thomas Parker
George Carl
Bruno Parker
Freddie Davies
Stanley Sharkey
Ian McNeice
Lawrence Berger
Christopher Greet
Nicky
Peter Gunn
Steve Campbell
Gavin Millar
Al
William Hootkins
Billy Man
Terence Rigby
Laura Fawkes
Ruta Lee
Jenny
Peter Pamela Rose
Battiston
Ticky Holgado
Barre
Olivier Py
Poquelin 
Mouss Zouheyri
Canavan
Peter McNamara
Bellows
Richard Platt
Pirard
François Domange
Francesco
George Khan
Ringmaster
Ian Rowe
Camilla Powell
Ruth Kettlewell
Mr Pearce
Fred Evans
Little Firewater
Brian Webb
Skipper
Peter Martin

Director
Peter Chelsom