John's Not Mad (1989)

4 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Educational or comedy

A Customer from Midlands, 28th October, 2004

This documentary is about a really serious medical condition. Two short pieces, one filmed in the late 80's and the other, present day. It illustrates how difficult life can be for it's sufferers; Having said that - if you are like me then you will have to admit it certainly has leanings on the side of comedy. I'm quite sure that you will have hours of fun entertaining your friends with qoutes from the film....'Mum you sl*t, Fu**ing Nescafe' etc etc. On a more serious side - No, there really isn't one - ENJOY...we did!

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3 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Tragic yet cult

sickboyedd from Greater London, 4th August, 2004

I remember first seeing this in a R.E. lesson at school. The behaviour of the boy who has tourettes illustrates the difficulty facing sufferers, yet at the same time is side-splittingly hilarious as the sufferer swears and spits his way through life. I do feel very guilty for laughing, but as un-PC as it sounds, the combination of sympathetic commentary with extreme behaviour make it seem like a creation of Chris Morris.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

*&£($!!!ing Nescafe!

Moose666 from from Chertsey, 20th June, 2005

As a previous review states, this is side-splittingly funny. I personally don't feel guilty for laughing at it, though. The team who made this documentary must surely have known the effect it was going to have.

John Davidson, along with Joey Deacon and others, is something of an icon among people of my age, who grew up and were educated in Britain during a certain timeline. Kids being what they are, you can imagine the school playgrounds the day after this was broadcast.

I was delighted to get the chance to see this again, not only because my sides ached with laughter, but because it brought back memories of more innocent, less restrictive times, when you could call a spade a spade without fear of being jumped on and beaten to death by the PC Brigade.

Highly recommended.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

jar_vis from HUNTINGDON, 10th May, 2004

Filmed as a QED documentary by the BBC in 1989, John?s Not Mad follows John Davidson, a 15-year-old schoolboy from Galashiels who suffers from the most severe form of Tourette?s Syndrome, a complex neurological disorder. This fascinating and inspiring film explores the way in which John, his family and the local community deal with his extreme condition.

This DVD also contains footage from the 2002 BBC follow-up documentary, The Boy Can?t Help It, featuring John, now aged 31, as he talks about how much impact the original documentary had on his life. John?s charity, Tourette?s Scotland, will be receiving a donation for every copy sold to continue helping and advising families of Tourette?s sufferers.

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F&%KING Brilliant!

GavinScrimgeour from from Perth, 20th March, 2008

What I got from this documentary: This documentary explores the condition in a frank, laymen’s way. It explains and shows to the viewers that John is 'not mad', and was not a badly behaved child as by the reactions of the public in the video show. The documentary is made in such a way (accidentally or not) how amusing it is for people watching Johns involuntary outbursts, especially the ones watching the programme. Admittedly I found it really funny to watch John swear and shout in public and say things inappropriate. As this documentary was split into two, John and a younger boy who has recently been diagnosed with tourettes, watching John, I was on a high as his display was incredibly funny to me. However, my mood changed when the documentary led to the little boy. Immediately, I felt guilt about find this funny and felt sorry for the other sufferer in the film. What really shocked me, was near the end of the documentary, the little boy pleads with his parents to kill him. Being on a high, then watching this, emphasises the condition, and shames me to laugh at it. With this in mind, I had to think long and hard what it must be like for John, who has courageously lived with the condition, and doesn't let it ruin his life, which is admirable to say the least. For me, that's what a documentary is all about - making people think. The freak show you begin to expect to see turns into a clever way of showing people the other, more personal side of the condition form the point of view of the sufferers. Really good watching.

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A Comedy Classic

A Customer from Brighton, 22nd August, 2007

One of the funniest films of the last 25 years. Rent this and have a good laugh at John, a Tourettes kid who just can't stop swearing. The Supermarket Scene is one that will live long in the memory, as will his description of a well-meaning social woker as a 'f*cking prostitute'. Classic. Five stars.

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So drepressing.

NeilCake from from Manchester, 9th March, 2007

It's good, like. It's fascinating and moving but it's just so depressing. Especially when it ends with footage of John saying, 'why me?'... and then finishes. Poor lad. Spends every day spitting and swearing, can't help it, feels like everyone hates him, and everyone tries to pretend it's not happening, when all it needs is to be treated with a sense of humour. How miserable and ashamed he must have felt. Luckily the update is on the same DVD, and that's a bit more cheerful since people understood John a bit better in his hometown since seeing the documentary, and he was able to get on with his life. The original documentary did a very good job of getting the viewer to empathise with John's predicament, but it appeared to me to be more of a freak show than a medical documentary. It seemed to say, 'Look how miserable life can be. Tune in next week when we'll be following a young girl with a large penis'.

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Very Informative

MikAndrewz from South Glamorgan, 25th May, 2006

This disc contains the 1989 documentary 'John's Not Mad' as well as the 2002 follow-up 'The Boy Can't Help It'.

This is a great piece of film-making that really shows what it's like to live with the condition, both for the sufferer and their family. It's great to get a chance to see how John has developed and the influence that the original film has on his life.

The one criticism that I have of this disc is that 'The Boy Can't Help It' only contains footage of John, whereas when it was shown on TV it also covered the life of a young teenager who had recently been diagnosed with the condition. It was a shame that this wasn't included.

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