From the Egyptian pharaohs to the Medieval kings of Europe via Roman emperors, courts all over the globe employed the services of professional fools across the centuries. These merry figures were tasked with lolling around comically for the amusement of the ruling classes, but quite often they used their seeming silliness to take a sly swipe at their masters.
That’s the thing about fools, you see. They’re not half as daft as you think.
Which brings us neatly to this witty bunch of movies that feature smartly foolish heroes to make you chuckle in time for April Fool’s Day, or anytime you need a laugh.
The Breaker Upperers
In an extremely savvy move, our New Zealand neighbours have made making a fool of themselves in a straight-faced way one of their major export industries. The world loves the madcap but , and comedy shows like from his regular collaborator Jemaine Clement. Enter this endearingly silly offering from comedians-turned-writer/directors Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek. They star as a dynamic duo that fakes deliriously dumb scenarios to help folks too weak-willed to ditch their partners. Look out for Aussie star and fellow comedian Celia Pacquola in this bizarrely brilliant buffoonery that gets to the heart of modern romance.
Lucky Grandma
Lucky fool syndrome refers to our ridiculous ability to assume it’s all down to our genius when things are going well for us, but clearly everyone else’s fault when it’s not. The chain-smoking, potty-mouthed grandma (Tsai Chin) at the heart of Sasie Sealy’s cracking film takes this theory and weaponises it. Heading on a free bus to an Atlantic City casino on the day she reckons her good luck supposedly hits its peak, she’s sure she has it nailed. Then loses everything. Then finds a big bag of cash stashed on the dead gangster next to her on the way home. What could possibly go wrong if she helps herself? Cue chaos…
Chevalier
Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari hits toxic masculinity right where it hurts in this sharp-tongued satire set on board a luxury yacht. Talk about a ship of fools. Six men set sail for what should be a fun fishing getaway on the Aegean Sea that soon devolves into an all-out cockfight of moronically embarrassing proportions, including an actual erection-comparing competition. If you like the bleakly comic lacerations of The Lobster and The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos, expect a similar vibe here (Attenberg director Tsangari was a producer on his 2009 film Dogtooth). None of the men come out of this witty takedown with their dignity intact.
In The Loop
This English commedy is an outrageously good spoof of gormless politicians and the dark arts spin-folks that massage their messaging. Hailing from the mischievous mind of Armando Iannucci, the man who brought us the dastardly good The Thick of It in the UK and Veep in the US, it’s a jet-black satire that skewers the morons in office who would take us to war. Which may be a bit on the nose right now, but it’s all the more powerful for it. Look out for former Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi as savage Scotsman Malcolm Tucker, a man who uses his words like nukes, and the final performance by The Sopranos lead James Gandolfini.
Toni Erdmann
By far the most surreal offering on this ship of fools, it’s hard to know how best to characterise this Oscar and Palme d’Or-nominated reverie from German filmmaker Maren Ade. Brilliant and brilliantly unsettling would be a good start. Workaholic businesswoman Ines (Sandra Hüller) already has a strained relationship with her father (Peter Simonischek), but he exacerbates everything when he dons a ridiculously shaggy wig and false teeth combo to adopt the persona that lends the film its name. An absurd set-up leads to a sublime reckoning that reminds us to slow down, puncture the bubble of our self-importance and live a little.
David Brent: Life On The Road
For two seasons and a two-part Christmas Special, bittersweet comedian Ricky Gervais’ mockumentary series The Office provoked an excruciating amount of awkward as the fictional boss of “life is stationery” paper-producing company Wernham Hogg, a petty-minded fool disliked by almost all around him. The show’s genius was that we inexplicably felt sympathy for this odious middle manager stuck in the seventh ring of hellish mediocrity. To find out what happens next, dip into this big-screen follow-up that picks up the plot 12 years later, as David hits the road as a rock star (kind of) with band Foregone Conclusion. Basically, this is the slow and squirm-inducing death of a salesman.
Swimming With Men
Welsh actor Rob Brydon often works the sort of weary fool schtick to Gervais, most notably alongside Steve Coogan in The Trip films. He capitalises on that vibe here in director Oliver Parker’s movie that’s loosely based on a Swedish film. It casts Brydon as a man who attempts to stave off a mid-life crisis by getting in the pool with a bunch of similarly middle-aged men competing in a synchronised swimming competition. Yes, it sounds a teeny bit like Chevalier, but we promise you these old fools are much easier on the anxiety. It’s all very The Full Monty, but with marginally more clothes.
Dreamfools
We’ve all fallen foul of a practical joke before, whether it’s April Fool’s-related or not. But that scenario is turbo-charged in this Italian folly from director Francesco Miccichè. It’s centred on a couple who are madly in love, but both stuck in dead-end relationships they’re too broke to break away from. That all changes when Sergio (Sergio Castellitto) is convinced by colleagues pulling his leg that he has won the lottery. Skipping town with Sabrina (Sabrina Ferilli) and their families, they try and conceal the truth when they realise there’s no money coming, more fool them.
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