A narrator with a clear East Anglian accent introduces the viewer to Lee Matthew Jr (Ramy Ben Fredj) who on a high, pinches a car, joyrides, crashes, runs off and then, through connections gets the blame shifted to Jayce (Ethaniel Davy) who gets ten months for it.

The narration continues sporadically, filling in a few background facts and comments, as Jayce sets about finding out who set him up. Into this comes Kev (Graham Fellows) who has inadvertently grown weed on his property. Both now looking for a way to off it and to make some money. Into the mix come the local villains both for and against the pair.

Written and directed by Richard Bracewell, Chicken Town is one of those English films that tries to play on the eccentricities of small-town life and the people that live in them.

Hence there are times when the film feels and looks wilfully weird. The conversations between villain enforcers Vincenzo and Sticks (Hugo Carter and Everett Gaskin respectively) are an example with some bizarre exchanges.

There’s a likeable raggedness about it with the film tending to float about never really deciding if it wants to go full on eccentric. Or tap into a seam of social observation regarding the boredom of life in small community that really depends on the individual to make anything of their lot, if they have aspirations to leave, as some of them do.

The cast, a blend of experience and newcomers, do a fine job with their various characters. There’s a pitch at using black humour regarding the otherwise serious criminality of drug cultivation and dealing though it comes over more childish than bad taste. Apart from one very good joke towards the end.

Chicken Town will be in UK cinemas on 27 June 2025.

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