NUNS ON THE RUN
A film review by Randy Parker
Copyright 1996 Randy Parker
RATING: **1/2 (out of ****)
(Review written in 1990)
There are only a few contemporary actors who can make fans laugh simply by appearing on screen. These actors don't have to do anything funny; just looking at them brings on the giggles. Woody Allen and John Cleese are prime examples, and if you ask me, so is Eric Idle, who--unlike Cleese--has been woefully underutilized by filmmakers since Monty Python disbanded.
Finally, seven years after MEANING OF LIFE, Idle has a starring role (opposite Robbie Coltrane) in NUNS ON THE RUN. NUNS, unfortunately, is a mindless, unoriginal caper comedy, but thanks to Idle's elastic face and silly expressions, the movie is thoroughly entertaining. We're talking dumb but fun.
Idle and Coltrane play aging crooks who are looking to go straight. As the title suggests, they end up hiding in a convent, disguised as nuns. Idle, who is no stranger to appearing in drag, brings his customary flair to the role. Coltrane, as Idle's partner in crime, plays his part well, but he doesn't have Idle's comic pizazz. Camille Coduri, who plays Idle's love-interest, is adorable in a Goldie Hawn sort of way.
Writer-director Jonathan Lynn throws gag after gag at the screen, and only some of them stick. The movie's appeal derives more from the comic performances than from Lynn's uneven screenplay, which relies too much on cheap, physical humor. NUNS ON THE RUN is no FISH CALLED WANDA, but it's nearly impossible to resist Eric Idle as a nun.
--- Randy Parker rparker@slip.net http://www.shoestring.org
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews