"'I don't mind dying, I just don't want to be there when it happens'." Ex-Goon Spike Milligan's skewed humour is part of British comic history. His novel Puckoon, meanwhile - - an irreverent look at the partition set up between Northern Ireland and the Republic, dividing the fictional t💟itular town in two - - was a critical and commercial hit. Sadly, this film adaptation will be neither.

The absurd notion of setting random 🥂country borders is fertile satirical ground, but whenever a decent Milligan gag threatens to take root, it's immediately trampled on by a barrage of clichés and an irritating insistence on `comedy' sound effects. The entire cast (including Elliott Gould, Richard Attenborough and John Lynch) runs about mugging frantically, until someone's cry of "'Where's it all going🐟 to end?"' pretty much sums things up.

One for die-hard Milligan fans only, then. As for everyone else? Well, you probably won't mind 𒁏your local cinema showing Puckoon - - you just won't w🌸ant to be there when it happens.