Life on Hold
When his mum kicks him out of his home, Dan Thomas (Tom Hughes - Cemetery Junction) and his cat have no where to go so he secretly moves in to the call centre where he works, with his cat hidden in the ceiling space. He soon comes to realise how tough life is when each day he is in the same clothes, eating the food which has been left in the works fridge and quickly losing any self respect he had as he makes a series of poor decisions. It is as if life is conspiring against him although there is always Teri (Ophelia Lovibond - Mr. Popper's Penguins), his work colleague who clearly cares for him.
It's surprising what you will do when despite having a job you find yourself homeless, you start sneaking around as you try to keep up the pretence that everything is normal in your life despite the fact you are wearing the same clothes you have for the last few days. And despite trying to be careful you leave tell tale clues that things are not alright whilst it feels like everything is conspiring against you. That is partly what "8 Minutes Idle" is about but embellished to a comical level so Dan's hidden cat happens to leave a urine stain on a ceiling tile whilst Dan has to use the soap from the dispenser in the toilets to have a wash.
But on top of the comedy of Dan dealing with secretly living in the office "8 Minutes Idle" also has the comedy of the work place from Dan having to deal with his vindictive boss who enjoys having power to the office saddo who is sweet but awkward. Plus of course there is office romance as well as Dan and Teri clearly have a thing for each other but never act on their feelings. But again the comedy is embellished especially with this being a call centre and we get the comedy of how these workers deal with customers and so on.
Now there is more to "8 Minutes Idle" than this because we get a look at people's life away from the office such as Teri's less than great living environment whist Dan's dad, well let's just say he is played by Paul Kaye and is by no means a regular sort of guy. The thing is that whilst all this is entertaining you sort of feel like it isn't heading anywhere and is just the humour of a homeless guy working and sleeping in a call centre.
What this all boils down to is that there is a lot which is fun about "8 Minutes Idle" but at times it feels like a movie of comical ideas rather than one with a clearly defined story.
