For those wondering, bunny chow is bread stuffed with meat and vegetables, a bit like a cornish pasty - and at least these guys are funnier than Jethro...just.

Dave (Kibuuka), against the advice of his friends, is pursuing a dream of stand-up glory (and subsidizing this dream scrubbing dishes).

These friends-cum-mentors-cum-antagonists are Kags (Lediga), a successful comedian with a steady girlfriend and womanizing streak, and Joey (Rasdien), another respected stand-up and wannabe practising Muslim.

After a number of abortive appearances, Dave sees Oppikoppi as the final chance to prove his funny bones.

John Barker wishes he was the test tube result of a Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee cocktail.

Shot in monochrome (like Clerks), with onscreen text explaining the title (like Pulp Fiction) and meandering pop culture dialogue (Clerks, Reservoir Dogs) mixed with relationship squabbles (She's Gotta Have It, sex, lies and videotape), Barker wears his influences on his clapperboard, and none are particularly African.

Crucially, the brief glimpses of Joey and Kags' stand-up are pretty weak in the chuckles department, despite Lediga and Rasdien being professional funny men, and Barker fluffs the punchlines of his comedy scenes.

What the cast lack in laughs they make up for in likeability, even if the improvised dialogue rarely gets above men-are-pigs, women-are-nags, providing shallow insight into modern day Johannesburg.

Still, kudos for making a South African movie without political point-scoring or grafted on social messages.

The world won't wait with breath baited for another John Barker production and the leads had better get funnier if they want to break the West.

Not terrible, just the cinematic equivalent of a shrug.

Rob Daniel