People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan - Sunday Night Film Reviews

If you were anything like me… and still are, then watching and re-watching certain comedy shows takes up about 60% of your free time. There’s plenty of reasons for it, but the sense of comfort I get when I can settle down and re-watch something I’ve seen for the hundredth time makes me feel relaxed after a long day. 

But how do I level up from this? What’s the next best thing after eternal comfort? Well, my prayers were answered when Beatz and Grindah decided to release a movie. I remember back in uni ‘People Just Do Nothing’ continued to pop up on my Netflix, but I constantly avoided it because ‘Peep Show’ was just so damn rewatchable. But I eventually took the plunge and then suddenly, garage music was alright. 

It may have taken me 2 years to watch it, (and I don’t know how that happened) but when it came out on Netflix, I took the opportunity to put it on Sunday Night list:

For those that don’t know, ‘People Just Do Nothing’ was a mockumentary based on the mishaps of the Kurupt FM Crew (108.9 on the dial) Brentford’s most illustrious pirate radio station, focused mainly on the best MC in the Galaxy, MC Grindah. The crews almost oblivious and deluded take on the World is what turns this show into a great comedy, along with their sweet and shambolic friendships.

The film brings the characters back together again, a number of years after Kurupt FM folded. Chabuddy G (Asim Choudhury), manager of Kurupt, has come a long way since suggesting egg boxes as a way to cancel out noise going through walls in the very first episode, living in his ‘Merc’ travels to Pitsea in Essex to reveal the news to Grindah that they’ve been invited to Japan. 

Now, the film relies a lot on the traits that made it successful, like the friendship between Beats and Grindah remains strong and DJ Steve's wisdom are words to live by. It’s definitely a film for the fans and giving us something to enjoy again. I particularly loved Steves’ meltdown on the plane which I found was one the characters best moments, even up to him talking about aliens that abducted him, he has some incredible moments in the movie and gets his own happy ending as well. 

Looking at it objectively, the film falls short with its story bit, it loses touch with its roots and starts to be a movie about fame. Grindah, as he does, takes control of the situation and sacrifices his own and the crews values in order to become famous, it isn’t until he says ‘This isn’t how I wanted it to happen’ does he realise he’s made a mistake. Although this can be a downside, the overall result is that the crew discover what they value the most, ‘Kurupt FM, the rest are irrelevant’. It gives them all a greater sense of development in their characters, it shows the more human side to Grindah that despite his ‘Fearless Leader’ demeanor, he cares about his boys. I feel we wouldn’t have got to see this side of him had the format stuck to its low stakes mockumentary style we’re all so used to.

As a big fan of the show, it was nice to see Mustafa and Stamp give back to the fans and conclude a great story. I’m personally happy they didn’t leave it with Grindah moving to Pitsea and gave the crew one last hurrah and finishing off the show in the karaoke bar with Heart Monitor Riddem. Will I want to see a continuation of this? Not in this form, I think they’re done in front of the screen, but Kurupt FM can live on with their live shows and on spotify.