'Cunk on Life' movie review: Laugh-out-loud mockumentary on life’s big questions

It is terribly difficult to play stupid. Stupid and deadpan? More so. Play stupid and deadpan and ask all of life's big questions to some of the biggest subject matter experts in the world today and leave them baffled? That has become the exclusive domain of 'Philomena Cunk' played by the gifted comic actor Diane Morgan.

'Cunk on Earth' (2023), a mockumentary series on BBC, was hailed for its laugh-aloud mockery of pretentious documentaries and Morgan's razor-sharp comedic timing — British droll at its very best. Now, Netflix has created a one-off condensed version. 'Cunk on Life' begins with Morgan walking around an expansive landscape and asking in all seriousness: "Wondered what all these forests, valleys, mountains and puddles are actually for? Wondered how many buildings were knocked down to make way for them?" You almost missed that, didn't you?

She confronts genuine experts (some of whom look half-frightened of her) with questions such as: 'Did God have a brother called Simon?', 'Aren't knees a con?' and oh yes, 'Do I have DNA?' They all, poor chaps and chapesses, try to answer earnestly, which, of course, makes the whole interaction funnier. Divided into chapters on religion, art (in which she declares Van Gogh's painting is "actively bad"), death, etc., the hour-long movie is a mix of facts, gags and witticisms. A bit overdone in places (Edwin Hubble didn't need an elaborate sex scene, for instance) but if you haven't ever experienced 'Cunk on Earth', this is your chef's menu.