Susan Granger's review of 'THE IMPOSTORS" (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Stanley Tucci's "Big Night" was one of my favorite films of 1996 and, incredibly, his second comedy is a genuine delight. No, it's not as witty as "Big Night." That's a hard act to follow. But it is genuinely wacky and hysterically funny. Conceived as a madcap screwball farce, it stars Tucci and Oliver Platt as two out-of-work theater actors who, after bumbling a big audition with a writer/director (Woody Allen), accidentally stow away on a luxury ocean liner in the 1930s. No, not the Titanic, the S.S. Intercontinental, sailing to Paris. Masquerading as stewards, they try to avoid a pretentious British actor (Alfred Molina) whom they have unwittingly offended. Dashing down the corridors, they encounter various crew members: the German Head Steward (Campbell Scott,) who is in love with the Head Stewardess (Lily Taylor), who is in love with the ship's detective (Matt McGrath), a shy young Italian who is terrified of hurting anyone. Then there are the passengers: a suicidal singer (Steve Buscemi), a deposed Queen (Isabella Rossellini), an obsessed sheik (Teagle F. Bougere), an impoverished socialite (Dana Ivey), her morose daughter (Hope Davis), and a tennis pro who plays a better game off the court (Billy Connolly). And when they discover that the nefarious First Mate (Tony Shalhoub) has planted bombs to go off at midnight, chaos reigns. Written and directed by Tucci, at times it resembles a silent movie but with sound. There's Buster Keaton slapstick and Charlie Chaplin pantomime. Tucci's Laurel, Platt's Hardy. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Impostors" is a frothy, zany 7, as bubbly and intoxicating as a glass of vintage champagne.
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