One might be tempted to dismiss this little indie darling at first glance. With it’s sometimes handheld style of shooting, slapstick humor, and over-the-top acting you might think that this film is akin to a “Three Stooges” serial. But you couldn’t be more wrong, and passing up “London Betty” would be a big mistake. Although it looks low budget at times, you can tell that the director did so as a style choice moreso than a budget choice. The film is well acted, even if the characters are larger than life, and the movie certainly doesn’t leave you wanting. It is a great mix of action, drama, and comedy all wrapped up in a delicious package like a fresh pie left on a windowsill, which was then stolen by the main characters of this movie.

The funny thing about “London Betty” was, even though a good portion of the story revolved around the title character in the first act, the story itself really seemed to be more about a small time thief Billy (who is reminiscent of Donal Logue in his “Tao of Steve” days and played by the director Thomas Edward Seymour). He’s the lovable loser that falls for Lewis’ character Betty and literally steals many of the scenes he’s in. The plot revolves around Betty trying to expose the corruption of the town’s Mayor Plumb (Dick Boland). She soon becomes embroiled in all sorts of mischief and winds up getting kidnapped by the mayor (at this point Billy’s character pretty much takes center stage). He launches a rescue attempt with the help of his friends Volgo (Russ Russo), their hooker friend Jess (Margaret Rose Champagne), and a transvestite marine named Sgt. Stone (Phil Hall).

The movie itself actually looks vibrant and the characters are colorful. Set decoration is great and the cinematography is tight. The script is smart and original, and the comedy will keep you entertained even after the feature is finished. I think that if this film had just a little more of a budget, I wouldn’t have been screening it at a film festival, but possibly on the big screen at a larger art house theater. The style really brings to mind a mash-up of Apatow, Raimi, and Broken Lizard as far as the humor goes.

The only complaint I have goes towards the story. As previously stated, we lose a little bit of focus on Betty’s character in the movie, and also have a couple of side plots that could probably be trimmed down or trimmed out (a love story between Russo and Champagne’s characters for instance). I realize these were probably included to give everyone a little more screen time and enable the audience to connect with the characters more (I will admit that the character development is great. Even characters that don’t have a lot of screen time during the movie like Daniel von Bargen’s craven newspaper editor Maury is given a great backstory). The actors and actresses play their roles wonderfully (and bravo to Nicole Lewis’ brit accent!), and it is evident that everyone is having a great time. And so does the audience!

“London Betty” – You’ve Been Snobbed