Bizarre and at times disgusting, this is an amusing comedy overall nevertheless, and the performances are simply divine. The best of the cast has to be Denholm Elliott as a rude cynic who places himself above all others, yet is unaware how low he himself stoops at times, but Maggie Smith is a delight too as a snobbish lady, and as her timid husband, Michael Palin has hardly been better. The film is however marred by having too many characters and much too many different individual story lines to follow. It is hard to keep track of who is who and what is what, which distracts from the jokes. The humour itself is a bit hard to grasp at times too, but generally the situations and dialogue stay amusing if not laugh-out-loud funny. Tony Pierce-Roberts, best known for his work with the Merchant-Ivory team, shoots the film well too, with interesting panning shots to aid the film visually. It is not really a brilliant comedy, and some have suggested that British viewers would best enjoy it, but there is enough in it, especially with the acting, for non-British filmgoers to enjoy it to a degree also.
Review of A Private Function
