It is a performances centric movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

"The Young Ones" was a British cult comedy that broke out from 82 to 84, and was a sort of cathodic counterpart of the raging and inventive intensity of punk in music. Their creators (Lise Mayer, Rik Mayall and Ben Elton) came from the extraordinary experience (an alternative comedy den wherein punks, students, stand-up Marxist comediennes and comedians and absolutely unclassified entities of London cabaret used to gather and socialize). They intended to cross the slapstick (that form of physical comedy that experiments with the possibilities of a poetics of violence, cruelty and catastrophe in scene; a form that tends to be minorized in comparison to other kinds of comedy due its association with unproductive, asocial excess) with punk. The result was this surreal, abrasive-convulsive, incredible series, regarded by many as an update of "La Bóheme" in Thatcher's years, starred by revulsive and caustic characters, especially designed by their authors to deliberately displease: four students living together in a house that's constantly falling apart (in every episode, scenarios are literally dismantled with utmost pleasure by their own characters, that smugly come and go through the fourth wall as it was a silk curtain). We got Rick, a camp and hypocritical anarchist poet, fascinated with the Baader-Meinhof and Cliff Richard in equal parts, whose embodiment of anxiety -some says that he reflected someway the fear of inauthenticity that haunted part of the '80 British left- appeals and amplify John Lydon's axiomatic mantra: "anger is an energy". We got Vyvyan, a sadistic, gory punk devoted to unravel all the applied varieties of the verb "destroy", that's pure unpredictable physicality in action. We got Neil, a melancholic, bittersweet acid-rocker hippie, spiritual reject from the generation of love waking from the dream of flowers to enter in '70/'80 Britain nightmare. We got Mike, a dandyesque '80 Casanova obsessed with -love-challenges (and subsequently, blessed with - love- failures) and enigmatic non-sequiturs. And of course, we got the Balowski landlord family, all of them, starred by the amazing, always strange Alexei Sayle (demarcating the disruptive moment of the series when the sitcom narrative and aesthetic register would leave place to the emergence of a sudden and brief stand-up universe).Neither of their twelve episodes has some deal of structure of any kind, every known trope was subverted and then, re-subverted again, the narrative could change at every moment, swerving from slapstick to claymation, to unusual stand-up and music live numbers of amazing bands playing in the set such as The Damned, Motörhead, Madness, Rip Rig & Panic or Dexys Midnight Runners. Summarizing, this series is ardently recommended by someone who, at the first time of watching the first episode, felt the very same feverish struck of agitation and anxious fascination that he felt while listening Buzzcocks' "Love Bites" or Damned's "Damned Damned Damned". Beauty would be convulsive or won't be. Long live punk, long live slapstick!

The Young Ones is simply the most wonderful sit-com ever. A mad combination of Monty Python's Flying Circus with the British punk scene, The Young Ones focuses on four hilariously demented student archtypes. I can't believe this doesn't have a larger cult following. With few exceptions, today's comedy scene is abysmal. Canned laughter and absolutely nothing funny. No-one seems able to write a funny script now. The Young Ones didn't have to try too hard to be entertaining-it just was, period. A fantastic cartoon-like comedy which had some impressive cameo appearances throughout it's run. If you're fed up with the boring tripe that tries to pass itself off as comedy nowadays, then check this out. I highly recommend this to everyone!

When The Young Ones first appeared in television I was 12 years old and it felt like a revolution had started. I can't imagine any show before or since having such a huge impact on a generation. Contrary to what others believe I don't think it has dated in the slightest. There is so much about this show that I love I hardly know where to begin.Others have outlined the context for the show so there's no point going over that. One of the aspects I loved about the show as a kid and still do was the idea that there are bizarre things going on all around us that we aren't aware of. Talking brooms, people living under the ground, men living in basements etc. The Young Ones created a whole strange world around the main events of the central characters and I think that is part of its appeal to kids. There was even an episode where they did a parody of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe which in a strange way fitted perfectly with the show.Of the four main characters Rik was by far the most interesting and well drawn. The others were rather 2 dimensional caricatures but worked perfectly well in the surreal context of the show. Although I have to say Vivian didn't represent accurately anyone you would have met in the Britain of 1982. Real punks wouldn't have had "Very Metal" written on their back in studs. Vivian is more like a middle-aged persons idea of what a punk would be like. Whether this is because Adrian Edmondson just didn't have enough cultural savvy or it was done deliberately in order to make Vivian seem like an out of touch fool it's not possible to say.The tragedy of the show though is that Mike was written for Peter Richardson who didn't take the part due to some disagreement. I'm not criticising Christopher Ryan who made the part his own but I would have loved to have seen The Young Ones with Peter Richardson. Due to Christopher Ryan's diminutive stature the character become a rather ironic figure. If Peter Richardson had played the part Mike would have genuinely been the cool person in the house. In the Comic Strip Presents Mr Jolly Lives Next Door, Peter Richardson plays a gangster called Mr Lovebucket. I recommend you watch it if you want an idea of how he would have played Mike. It was also sad for Peter Richardson himself that he didn't take the part. If he had he would have been as famous as Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who, in my opinion, he is more talented than.

Anarchic comedy at it's best.Rik Mayall reportedly based his character on himself, only he deliberately made it the most annoying version possible. He and Adrian Edmondson (Vyvyan) still occasionally tour as a comedy team in England.Neil was my personal favorite character in the show. Don't ask me why. I just dug him. And Christopher Ryan made a great straight man. I get the feeling he's better than anyone outside of England will ever know.Alexei Sayle was the most talented guy on the screen. It looked like his bits were mostly ad-libbed. He seems like Britain's answer to Robin Williams.The music acts were a nice plus too. Seeing as said acts didn't get much American TV time.This is one of Britain's best comedy shows.