I got this DVD because reviews said it was clever and funny. After twenty minutes of giving it a chance it had not even raised a smirk or a chuckle so I skipped through the rest in case I had been missing something, but found I had not
I think the story concerned a character who was tax man, Harold (Will Ferrell), out of a book being written by a woman author (Emma Thompson). Other characters came and went as they tried to help him understand why he was hearing a commentary which was actually part of the text, or as they cropped up in this chapter of his life
The set-up might seem amusing to some but struck me as a pointless contrivance. The dialogue consisted of questions, apologies, or responses from Harold or the other protagonists, but was punctuated by pauses which seemed unnecessary and rather prolonged. Perhaps this was a reference to the seconds ticking away on Harold's unusual multifunctional watch, which was repeatedly portrayed as an important element of the narrative, but this did not help to pass the time for me. In the usual close-ups the features of the actors seemed to be relaxed, or at most slow to react, but perhaps this was due to a particular method of acting which I was unable to appreciate. It certainly did nothing to relieve the longeurs
In style it seemed about half way between 'Waiting for Godot' and the rather strange film version of 'French lieutenant's woman', in which Emma Thompson played with similar intensity, and I did not find anything vaguely humorous or meaningful here either. There were possible clues as to what it was all about when someone told Harold that: “a tree does not just think it is a tree, it is a tree” and when Harold brushed his teeth by numbers but later had a rush of erotic fantasy when he met an attractive client, but it was all lost on me
Sorry, not recommended
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Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Re-rated based on Ciao's insistence that such reviews are no longer considered "Off Topic"
Soho_Black 09.03.2008 14:49
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD features. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" above the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
salem_witch 07.01.2008 23:02
I think they were wrong in calling this a comedy as you think it's going to give you plenty of laughs.
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Entwife 08.06.2007 (04.02.2008)
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Aug 8th, 2007
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