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Click And Collect is to TV in 2018 what Jingle All The Way was to films in 1996, except only one will be watched regularly at Christmas time…
Instead of Arnie tracking down the last Turbo Man, Stephen Merchant is looking for the last Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess. As it began, I was expecting that, like King Gary, it was going to be more Christmas TV filler which would make you suddenly remember that you’d rather cut your toenails.
There is a good bit, but that’s only really with the opening altercation in a local store where Andrew (Merchant) gets the chance to buy the unicorn toy, but he objects to the fact they’ve hiked the price by £20 just because of the time of year.
Annoying neighbour Dev (Asim Chaudhry, from the unfunny People Just No Nothing) whacks up a ton of lights all over Andrew’s house without his permission, and circumstances lead to Andrew having no choice but to spend nine hours in a car with Dev to capture the final Sparklehoof.
Merchant is, surprisingly, not the most irritating thing about this and, at times, isn’t too bad. Alas, like his character Dev, Chaudhry IS the most irritating thing, especially since he talks too much along the journey where everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Plus, a lot of the situations that happen are ones we’ve seen before, and it all gets mixed up in a syrupy-sweet Christmassy message… making this a mix of Jingle All The Way and… Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
So, this could’ve been better without the schmaltz. And with some originality.
Click And Collect is not coming out on Blu-ray or DVD at this point, but you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after transmission.
Score: 2/10
Director: Ben Palmer
Producer: Sam Ward
Writers: Joe Tucker, Lloyd Woolf
Andrew: Stephen Merchant
Dev: Asim Chaudhry
Claire: Sophia Di Martino
Burger Bar Worker: Emily Aston
Nearby Man: Jason Barnett
Toy Shop Assistant: Tala Gouveia
Maintenance Man: Daniel Hoffman-Gill
Superstore Assistant: Grant McIntyre
Homeless Man: Steven Wickham
Jessie: Sophie Willan
Man at Table: Lloyd Woolf
Emily: Darcey Ewart
Herself: Alex Jones
Himself: Matt Baker
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.