The Wrong Mans - Wrong Time, Wrong Place - DVD

Movie: Actually, Sam (Mathew Baynton), a nondescript employee at the city government, just wanted to drown his lovesickness. But the hangover the next morning is only the least of his problems. Because while he's still staggering to work heavily strung out, he witnesses a serious car accident. After the seriously injured driver is taken to hospital and the police take his statement, Sam finds a mobile phone on the side of the road. Naturally, he believes it must belong to the driver and so he doesn't hesitate to pick it up when it rings. But when he hears the words If you're not here by 5 o'clock, we'll kill your wife, his willingness to help gives way to full-blown panic - especially since the mysterious caller cannot be convinced that Sam is not the owner of the cell phone. He then allows himself to be persuaded by mail distributor Phil (James Corden) not to call the police, but to rescue the woman on his own. And before he knows it, Sam is in a murderous adventure together with Phil, which takes on ever greater and more dangerous proportions...

The Wrong Mans is an extremely entertaining mini-series with plenty of black humour, a delightfully absurd thriller plot and convincing actors. Mathew Baynton and James Corden in particular, who also wrote the scripts for the six episodes, are really great as the anti-heroes. It's just fun to watch them as the timid loner Sam mutates into a confident fighter against evil, while Phil always seems to get the duo into even more trouble with his slightly too big ego and loud mouth. The fact that the discovery of a cell phone mutates into a story of corruption, murder and conspiracy, in which secret services, politicians and hitmen are involved, raises the fun factor of the series over the three-hour running time several times in the height.

Neben the original idea and the good actors can score but also the production. It is visually very stylishly implemented, also scores with a lot of speed and coherent cuts. But there is always time for a few quiet moments, in which the characters can develop well. Of course, it doesn't always go completely cliché-free. But whenever you have the feeling that the action is walking on too well-trodden paths, an unexpected and usually wonderfully bizarre twist comes along, which not infrequently also provides a really hearty laugh.

This may all be very contrived, but works really well because of the two main characters, the witty dialogues and the good pace. And the ending is just great especially in light of the fact that a second season was far from certain when it was filmed. Because the last scene works both as an extremely consistent conclusion of the story, as well as a clever transition to a second season extremely well - although it is of course pleasing that there will be more episodes of Wrong Mans, which will hopefully also find their way back to Germany.

James Corden, who has recently been celebrating a second career as the host of a late night show on American television, and Mathew Baynton have delivered a good mix of comedy and conspiracy thriller with their series, which scores points in terms of action as well as dialogue wit and a little slapstick. An all-round success that fans of British humor of the slightly wacky kind should not miss. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: For a current TV production, the implementation of image and sound of the DVD is on a good to very good level. The very clean picture has a decent overall sharpness, which only in the darker scenes small quality losses such as slight image drizzle. On the other hand, the color scheme is very positive, which brings out the very special atmosphere of the series well. The sound mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 is not really spectacular, but has some decent surround moments to offer through some sound effects such as explosions, gunshots or tire squeals. For a TV series, this is perfectly satisfactory. Good!

Extras: The best extra of the double DVD is undoubtedly the fact that there is an audio commentary (unfortunately not subtitled) for each episode by the two main actors and series creators James Corden and Mathew Baynton together with their director Jim Field Smith. The three's casual conversations are full of amusing as well as interesting details about the making of the story and the filming of the series. In addition to the commentaries, there's also a nice behind-the-scenes look on the second disc that's pleasantly promo-free. Good!

Conclusion: The Wrong Mans impresses with two sympathetic main actors, an abstruse, yet surprisingly exciting story and a lot of black humor. The three hours of running time of this first season fly by. Although the German dubbing is quite successful, the original English version has even more wit and bite and is therefore absolutely preferable. The DVD presents the series in good picture and sound quality and also offers entertaining audio commentaries and a nice look behind the scenes. Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp