Reviews

This movie was a first for me - the first movie that I have ever left (or even contemplated leaving) half way through. It was dull and unfunny, but worst of all it was clichéd. Despite some appealing performances (particularly from the women, who had very little to do) the overall effect was dispiriting. The "all bosses are bastards" concept was laid on thickly, and the upper class Englishman stereotype was offensive and could probably be viewed as racist. (The supporting "ethnic" roles were also in questionable taste.) There was a lack of logic and consistency in the set-up - for example, the English boss was a skinflint who bought a house because it was cheap but drives an expensive car. After smiling once, laughing never and gritting my teeth constantly, I left about the half way mark. Even though this is a short movie it wasn't worth wasting any more of my time on. I take no pleasure in criticising what is obviously a low budget movie, but I took even less pleasure in watching it.

Terry Gilliam has a wild imagination and when restrained by a coherent plot and decent scripting the results can be stunning and deeply affecting (eg Brazil.) Without these restraints the result is a farrago of pointlessness with some visual highlights dispersed in 2 hours of dross. The acting is uniformly poor (even Maggie Steed, if that was her uncredited as the rich woman) and when the cast has such talented members it must be assumed that their uniform failure to convince is due to directorial willfulness (or maybe "won'tfulness.") The scripting is flabby, probably partly due to improvisation, which is not an appropriate choice when the story-line is based on fantasy (surely better for kitchen-sink dramas.) Crisper dialogue may have helped to provide a solid base from which to propel into fantasy. Deeply disappointing.

Watching some of Tracey Ullman's previous shows, I was impressed by her range of characterisation but rarely found myself laughing. I blamed poor writing. I was hoping for better with this series. Maybe it is unfair to judge after one episode, but here goes anyway. Not only did I not laugh at all, the closest I came to smiling was when I thought about how bad this was. The "best" segment were of Renee Zelwegger and David Beckham, but as they are both caricatures in real life, comic interpretation is unnecessary. What is more disappointing (and which will dissuade me from watching another episode) is Ullman's rather hesitant performances (maybe a better director was needed.) Too often I felt that I was watching a rehearsal rather than a finished product. With a bit more polish I may even have raised a hesitant grin.

What a very odd production this is. When I watched the first few episodes, with it's cheap look, hammy acting and strange mid-scene episode breaks, I assumed that it had been made in the 70's or early 80's, and that the production date and website details at the end indicated that it had been updated in some way and was being used by it's production company to appear culturally aware. It was only on checking on IMDb that I realised that it was made recently. The sins of the past can be forgiven, or at least viewed with a modicum of condescending indulgence; the sins of today are less likely to be pardoned.

On a positive note, the script is witty enough even if the plot is implausible. The sung recapitulations of the plot at the beginning of the episodes are greatly welcome and must be considered this series' greatest success. The younger members of the cast look well enough. (I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.)

Unfortunately there is much to dislike here. The acting is mostly overdone (suitable for the theatre when you have to reach the back row, but not for the intimacy of home viewing) and often worse than that. The actor's asides are poorly managed, spoken so loudly and obviously that I marvel that the other characters don't respond. The camera work is flat, unimaginative and uninteresting. Perhaps this production would have been better filmed "live" in a theatre than on location.

Recommended only for those who wish to see a classic performed for their own educational benefit rather than pleasure.

After becoming increasingly disenchanted throughout this seemingly endless film, I began to wonder what the message, if any, was. It appeared to me that the theme was that it didn't matter if you were an idiot, things would work out fine so long as you are American and your hearts is pure. Some time after seeing the movie I read extracts from the original book which was clearly of more satirical intent. Forrest Gump is a modern day Candide living out a pseudo-panglossian idyll where everything works out for the best (in this best of all possible worlds.) While the book clearly highlights the absurdity of this, the movie takes a superficial view that illustrates the situations without any apparent understanding of irony.

The first half hour of Saving Private Ryan is excitingly filmed, graphic and horrifying. The rest of the movie is maudlin, bloated, badly plotted and with some of the least compelling dialogue it has been my misfortune to hear. A movie that starts and ends with the US flag is likely to put non-American viewers off side. It would appear that the only people involved in World War II were the Americans, a few cowed and unimportant French peasants and pantomime German villains. A psychiatrist friend of mine assures me that this movie is a classic illustration of the isolation caused by post traumatic stress disorder, but her husband agrees with me that the movie is just rubbish. The Thin Red Line, which was so overshadowed by this farrago, was of a poetic beauty that is rare in US cinema. See that instead.

This was a movie that intrigued me from my first viewing of the trailer. It seemed so fresh, so new. (Too often trailers seem to advertise a movie you have seen many times before.) The concept is audacious (if not entirely plausible) but the real strength is in the dialogue and the performances. Jim Carey grates very occasionally but the rest of the cast is spot on. The ways in which Truman's "friends" and "family" profess their affection while simultaneously betraying him are funny, sad and lacerating all at the same time. Repeated viewings have not dulled the edge of this modern morality tale.

Reality TV was not such a ubiquitous presence when this movie was made (and I hope ardently for it's eventual demise) so that this movie has become more relevant and less unlikely with every passing year.