A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1997 Ben Hoffman
One can pretty well expect that if it is something Alan Ayckbourn has written, it is going to be a great farce. In fact, the play on which the film is based did win several awards. One can only assume that something happened in the transition to film. For one thing, sets with hilarious goings-on in different rooms are a hallmark of Ayckbourn farces. Seeing the film with the mobility of a movie camera where the set no longer is an integral part is possibly what is missing in the film.
Initially released in 1989 it was withdrawn because of a legal disagreement between the producers. Because the film does not depend on any particular date, however, the fact that it is now being released seven years later does not spoil the story in any way. It is a kind of timeless farce with Dafydd Ap Llewellyn (Anthony Hopkins), as a tyrannical, hysterical monster of a director of an amateur production of THE BEGGARS OPERA. Into this town of Scarborough, England comes Guy Jones (Jeremy Irons) who has been sent by his employer to do some work there. Guy is of the opinion that he was sent there because of a computer glitch.
Guy, a shy man who has recently lost his wife, sees an ad in the local newspaper announcing casting of amateurs for a play. He thinks this may be what he needs to alleviate his boredom. However, much to his innocent surprise, every woman in the cast as well as others who just live in the town are trying to get him into bed. This includes Hannah (Prunella Scales of Fawlty Towers fame) who is the sex-starved wife of Dafydd. Then there is the swinging couple who like to have different partners to break the monotony of married life. (Jenny Seagrove and Gareth Hunt) in a very funny episode involving Guy, a woman friend, and the swingers.
While the comedy is handled flawlessly, the film slows down considerably with the insertion of a sub-plot involving Guy's company and the greedy townspeople of Scarborough.
Directed by Michael Winner. 2,5 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to miss 2 Bytes = Average 1 Byte = Save your money
Ben Hoffman
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