The Devil's in the Detail

If films were ranked on pun-value alone, The Devil’s in the Detail would get full marks. Taking a common saying and running a mile, this short comedy sketch is amusing in parts, but lacking in quality control and flourish.

Angered by a smoking ban put in place on Earth, the Devil (Barbara Spevack) sets out to ensure her favourite bar – ‘the detail’ – remains under her own domain. Adrian (Gerard Rogan), Peter (Jamie Sime) and James (Alastair Lawless) – a trio of damned souls, get to work on figuring out a legal way in which the drinking hole can circumvent the ban – without earning themselves further punishment.

The Devil’s in the Detail lasts only 5 minutes. With a concept that could easily be one that That Mitchell and Webb Look left on the cutting room floor, it feels like a relatively simple task to build a logical comedy sketch in this window. Yet viewers will be left waiting for laughs that never really come. It feels like the best gag is the one in the film’s title – that ‘the detail’ would be a bar where the devil hangs out in. Beyond an extravagant performance from Barbara Spevack, an amusing smash-cut from the noisy club to a backroom full of lawyers piling over paperwork, and a weaselly lawyer whose presence in Hell is presented as self-explanatory, the film fails to illicit much humour.

Its plot (so to speak) is even undercut midway through the film – with the concluding revelation - that the bar’s presence in Hell meaning that Earth laws don’t apply - being outright stated ahead of time. It is poor storytelling, and audiences will be questioning why the apparently key realisation wasn’t acknowledged when it was first raised in the film – around about a minute earlier.

The film’s lower budget means lower production values are a necessity. It’s unlikely many viewers will be totally convinced by the overlay of strobe lights or VFX flames surrounding the lawyer’s table – but this carries its own charm for a film that isn’t taking itself too seriously. Varying sound levels are more of a hinderance – with a noticeable and unnatural drop when characters begin to speak which feels amateurish in the worst way.

It’s not all negative, with strong costume design for the Devil complimented by a confident and convincing performance from Barbara Spevack. The concept itself has some interest, and the mixing of the mundane and monstrous is an engaging setting. But the potential for humour and parody is largely left unexplored. Never do we get any real concept of the consequences for the Devil of ignoring the ban, why it has been enforced in the first place or why the trio are responsible for bringing it to her attention. Beyond criticism for sweeping bureaucratic enforcement, there isn’t even much critique of the legal system – a shame as the concept is ripe for potential in this regard.

It’s not great that the funniest gag that The Devil’s in the Detail is in its opening credits. The film never really gets off the mark, and ends underwhelmingly. A different and more developed story direction would have been worth exploring, and the embers of humour that are here mean this one is sent to Purgatory, not total damnation.