Doing the box office equivalent of dropping soap in the shower in the US, Let’s Go to Prison crept out onto DVD in the UK. Surprisingly then, this is not the Stir Crazy-lite fiasco its box office tailspin (and Reno 911 writing team) suggests.

John Lyshitski (Shepard) has spent the majority of his life doing porridge, pinning the blame on the judge who has been handing him harsh sentences since pre-pubescence.

When John’s plans for vengeance are thwarted by the old geezer peacefully passing away, the recidivist with attitude targets the old man’s obnoxious son Nelson (Arnett), landing him inside and landing himself a bunk in the same cell.

Posing as the one man who can get Nelson through his three-to-five with everything intact, John begins a clandestine campaign to get the spoilt rich boy well and truly messy, beginning with selling him to the local “Mr Big”.

Bizarrely, this is based on Jim Hogshire’s cult book, You Are Going to Prison, a kind of How-To guide to surviving the penal system.

But that book was very different from Norman Stanley Fletcher’s avuncular advice and Let’s Go to Prison follows its tone, sacrificing big laugh set-pieces for slow-burn gags and dark plot twists.

The lack of trailer-friendly hilarity is probably what sunk it, but there are a lot of chuckles up for grabs, even if a few are too bad in taste and stick in the throat.

The supremely-watchable Arnett is doing a variation on his Arrested Development schtick, which is no bad thing, and Shepard is as grungy and conniving here as he was in the similarly overlooked Idiocracy.

Chi McBride as Nelson’s potential love interest (“Prepared to be wooed by the master”) and Michael Shannon as a white supremacist who killed his father (“I don’t suppose you killed him with kindness?”) add class to the background cast.

Destined for late-night cult status, Let’s Go to Prison is undeserving of its ASBO status. That shame goes to director Odenkirk and Arnett’s follow-up, The Brothers Solomon.

Rob Daniel