As others have pointed out, The Imposters is a comedy, but it's not a comedy in the "A Fish Called Wanda" or "Dumb and Dumber" vein. It's a sophisticated, frothy comedy that hearkens back to the days of "Bringing Up Baby" or "Merrily We Live." So if you enjoyed that type of comedy, this is for you.
Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci (who wrote, directed, and produced) play two out of work actors in the 1930s. When they try to make a bakery owner angry enough to throw pastries at them, they fail, and instead are given two tickets to a bad actor's (Alfred Molina) Hamlet. Their insults of him in a bar are enough to send them hiding in a boarding box. They fall asleep and when they open the box, they find they're on a steamship headed for Paris.
As stowaways, the enlist the help of one of the workers (Lily Taylor) who has a pseudo-Nazi (Campbell Scott) chasing her around, so they have to be careful. Hiding in different rooms, they encounter two murderers (Allison Janey and Richard Jenkins), who plan on killing an old woman for her money. She is on the ship hoping her miserable daughter can find a man. Her daughter does - a suicidal singer named Happy Franks (Steve Buscemi).
There is also a Russian bomber (Tony Shalhoub) disguised as a first mate, a princess (Isabella Rosselini) who has been dethroned, a sheik, and a Greco- Roman wrestler. And let's not forget that Hamlet himself is in need of a sea voyage to recover from his bad performances.
Some real laugh-out-loud moments in this film, with delightful performances from Tucci, Platt, Shalhoub, and Buscemi especially.
If you like the old comedies, check this one out.
Oliver Platt and Stanley Tucci (who wrote, directed, and produced) play two out of work actors in the 1930s. When they try to make a bakery owner angry enough to throw pastries at them, they fail, and instead are given two tickets to a bad actor's (Alfred Molina) Hamlet. Their insults of him in a bar are enough to send them hiding in a boarding box. They fall asleep and when they open the box, they find they're on a steamship headed for Paris.
As stowaways, the enlist the help of one of the workers (Lily Taylor) who has a pseudo-Nazi (Campbell Scott) chasing her around, so they have to be careful. Hiding in different rooms, they encounter two murderers (Allison Janey and Richard Jenkins), who plan on killing an old woman for her money. She is on the ship hoping her miserable daughter can find a man. Her daughter does - a suicidal singer named Happy Franks (Steve Buscemi).
There is also a Russian bomber (Tony Shalhoub) disguised as a first mate, a princess (Isabella Rosselini) who has been dethroned, a sheik, and a Greco- Roman wrestler. And let's not forget that Hamlet himself is in need of a sea voyage to recover from his bad performances.
Some real laugh-out-loud moments in this film, with delightful performances from Tucci, Platt, Shalhoub, and Buscemi especially.
If you like the old comedies, check this one out.