CONSUMING PASSIONS
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1988 Jeff Meyer
See at the Seattle Film Festival: CONSUMING PASSIONS (Great Britain, 1988) Director: Giles Foster Screenwriters: Paul D. Zimmerman and Andrew Davies, based on a play by Michael Palin and Terry Jones Cast: Tyler Butterworth, Jonathan Pryce, Vanessa Redgrave, Freddie Jones, Prunella Scales
This following plot summary hardly gives away anything about *this* movie, since the major plot impetus occurs in the first five minutes. Chumley Chocolates, that stately family firm, has been sold to a Nestles-like food corporation; saintly old Mr. Chumley (Freddie Jones, with *brown*-stained lips this time around) has stayed on as a figurehead, but the real power behind the throne is a corporate representative played by Jonathan Pryce, in one of those roles where the actor is so perfect for the part that you almost sigh with satisfaction when he's on. He's pushed Chumley into selling a new line of chocolates without any chocolate in them -- he's counting on the high-sex advertising to sell them to the British sweet-eaters. Into the whole shebang comes innocent young nebbish Tyler Butterworth, who in his first few clumsy minutes on the job manages to knock three factory workers into the automated chocolate-making machine. That's the bad news. The good news is that only Jones, Pryce and Butterworth (and the head secretary) know what happened. On the down side, though, the chocolate tainted with the bodies of the men has gotten out to a seaside resort. Even worse, the new chocolates are being poorly received all over the country...except in the little seaside community, where people just *can't* get *enough* of them.
Well, it's clear to Pryce that he's got one heck of a secret ingredient on his hands; the question is, will Butterworth and Chumley go along with it? More importantly, where can he get more of the necessary, um, *supplies*? It's a wonderful set-up for the rest of the film, and in general, it lives up to its potential, though it doesn't exceed it. There is a long, slow period in the middle; I suspect that this is where the screenwriters added extra material to stretch the Palin/Jones play, and it's a rather obvious break. But the beginning and end are quite good, and the supporting characters carry it as decently as anyone could. Particularly hilarious is Vanessa Redgrave as an aging nymphomaniac, whose price for silence about her husband's chocolate-coated demise is Butterworth's constant attention to her carnal desires. I can think of a dozen ways this could have fallen flat into something out of Benny Hill, but Redgrave is so inexhaustibly delighted with having Butterworth's services at her beck and call that it really is quite funny -- her open-mouthed grin has to be seen to be appreciated.
However, CONSUMING PASSIONS derives much of the humor from its premise, and that's outlined within the first fifteen minutes. The rest of the film is fairly standard; even though the play was written by a couple of ex-Pythons, it doesn't get really zany until the end (with the hilarious exception of an AIDS prevention poster sight-gag), preferring to stay with controlled slapstick like A PRIVATE FUNCTION but with less appealing subjects for humor (there isn't a character here that you'll have much concern for, which is probably a good thing). Butterworth in particular becomes rather annoying after awhile; he's good as the comic foil to the events overtaking him, but at times he seems to be shooting for the title of the British Don Knotts.
A decent $3.50 film, unless you're a fan of British comedies, in which case full price is quite acceptable.
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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