Vuil Wasgoed review – A bucketful of laughter

By Adriaan Roets

With the tag line “Wash A Pleasure”, from the onset you know that Vuil Wasgoed will be a pun-filled, ridiculous and ultimately wildly entertaining South African crime noir that doubles up as a heartfelt comedy.

And that is quite an accolade for a film about two friends, quite insignificant, who work at a laundromat.

But that’s what makes this so inventive and fun – it takes the mundane, throws in a Gotti-esque crime family, each out to get their own, a cut-off finger and washing machines.

Add to that an interesting use of Anneli van Rooyen’s Ek Lewe! and you have a multi-faceted entertainment bomb you’ll want to explode over and over again.

It starts with Wim and Kevin dreaming about their own coffee shop – temporarily working in a laundromat. They “borrow” people’s clothes at night to go to raucous parties. Until one night, when they find a finger in a pocket – and are dragged into the gritty world of thieves and gangsters.

The impressive ensemble cast works to outsmart each other, with two buffoonish guys in the centre of all the action. It’s a solid addition to the beefed-up local film library on Showmax.