Lost In London, film review: Self-mocking romp is far better than we had any right to expect

Lost In London is not a great film, says Nick Curtis, but Woody Harrelson has made something cool out of what was just a daft idea
1/6
Nick Curtis @nickcurtis20 January 2017

Today at 2am, Woody Harrelson successfully directed and starred in a feature-length movie, shot on the streets of London in a single take and broadcast live by satellite to 550 US cinemas and to Picturehouse Central here. A daft idea, the kind of mad, experimental challenge dreamed up by stoned film nerds after a Hitchcock all-nighter, but one he pulled off with considerable wit and brio.

Lost In London is not a great film. How could it be when character and plot are slaves to the concept, when all we have is the frame of a single camera? But it is a brilliant technical and logistical achievement, especially from a first-time director previously known for comedy and character roles, and a hippyish devotion to marijuana. Laced with self-mockery, it’s very funny, and far better than we had any right to expect.

In this heavily fictionalised account of his real-life rampage through the West End in 2002, “Woody”, played by Woody, rows with his wife after his sex romp is exposed in a tabloid. He goes to a club with some Iranians, slightly damages a black cab, gets arrested and is bailed by Owen Wilson (played by Owen Wilson) the next morning. So he still gets to take his kids to the set of a Harry Potter movie.

The early moments — you can’t call them scenes, because it’s effectively all one scene — are dreadfully awkward. The tabloid plot plods out. Woody burbles amateurishly and is out-acted by Eleanor Matsuura as his wife, Laura. In the club episode, things pick up. Woody the actor relaxes. And no one respects Woody the character. Owen Wilson, trying to cheer him up, ends up arguing and then fighting with him. He tells Woody he hasn’t had sex appeal since the Eighties. “I had it WELL INTO THE NINETIES,” says Woody. A girl talks spiritual waffle to him, the start of a running gag about Harrelson’s supposed belief in mysticism, but he vomits on her. Shortly after that, he assaults a beggar in a row over change.

Woody keeps doing terrible things. We learn that he has turned Bono — who contributes a cameo over the phone — into a dope-addled wannabe Rastafarian. The strangers he meets either spout eastern wisdom or mock his movies, his hairline or his veganism. Supposed friends, including Willie Nelson, just insult him. The period setting is unclear. Is it the present day or 2002? It doesn’t matter. You get carried away by the rackety, rollercoaster sense of fun. I mean it as a compliment when I say I sometimes forgot I was watching a single shot and that it was happening live. Cleverly and necessarily, the camera strays from Woody to other characters, allowing for costume changes and make-up effects.

After the denouement on Waterloo Bridge, Daniel Radcliffe appears in a pre-recorded postscript, to say that Woody did indeed bring his kids to the Harry Potter set after the 2002 fracas, possibly using it as “a safe house”. Which, he adds, is “kind of cool”. It’s kind of naff that Woody Harrelson was arrested for damaging a taxi ashtray in London. But it is kind of cool that he has wittily, shamelessly reinvented that event here for a ground-breaking, live cinematic event.

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in