This movie was a great find...something obscure and possibly long forgotten--a low-budget English caper comedy about a chauffeur (wonderfully played--as usual--by Tim Curry) and aspiring stage performer who, almost seemingly down on his luck and out on his ass, comes upon a rather problematic opportunity when he finds his employer carries around a suitcase full of cash.
The pathetic dolt steals the money and goes on a spending spree with his girlfriend, Pam, who unfortunately gets caught up in the mess as well, though somewhat understandably so. Although she was once reluctant to play along in the game for fear of violent retaliation by the owners of the money--South American drug lords, she has fun indulging in the "finer" things of life with her mate. This leads to a large number of problems once the drug lords figure out who has the money and follow him across the United Kingdom to get hold of it.
The beginning of the film is somewhat slow. If you are unfamiliar with the plot (although, if you read this review, you now have some idea), then you may just think it is the story of a struggling stage performer. Actually, that's pretty perfect, because the beginning moves rather slowly and at times--slightly confusingly--but once the chauffeur gets a little curious about the contents of his driver's briefcase, it is more than the story of a rather pathetic, happy-go-lucky guy. It turns into a hilarious little caper.
Moreover, the ending to this rather mad, and often hilarious, series of events was somewhat of a let down and, one might say that our character, though at times sympathetic, was still an idiot for stealing the money and, even though they presumably wanted a happy ending for the film, he got off rather light and we were left with a very vague way of tying up the loose ends of the story's on-going conflict among the main characters. Nonetheless, Tim Curry (and the rest of the cast) give a great performance.
This movie is perfect not only for Tim Curry fans, but for people who just love to watch movies, especially older, obscure ones that no one has really ever heard of, but could never hurt to try. It is a great way to pass eighty-two minutes.
The pathetic dolt steals the money and goes on a spending spree with his girlfriend, Pam, who unfortunately gets caught up in the mess as well, though somewhat understandably so. Although she was once reluctant to play along in the game for fear of violent retaliation by the owners of the money--South American drug lords, she has fun indulging in the "finer" things of life with her mate. This leads to a large number of problems once the drug lords figure out who has the money and follow him across the United Kingdom to get hold of it.
The beginning of the film is somewhat slow. If you are unfamiliar with the plot (although, if you read this review, you now have some idea), then you may just think it is the story of a struggling stage performer. Actually, that's pretty perfect, because the beginning moves rather slowly and at times--slightly confusingly--but once the chauffeur gets a little curious about the contents of his driver's briefcase, it is more than the story of a rather pathetic, happy-go-lucky guy. It turns into a hilarious little caper.
Moreover, the ending to this rather mad, and often hilarious, series of events was somewhat of a let down and, one might say that our character, though at times sympathetic, was still an idiot for stealing the money and, even though they presumably wanted a happy ending for the film, he got off rather light and we were left with a very vague way of tying up the loose ends of the story's on-going conflict among the main characters. Nonetheless, Tim Curry (and the rest of the cast) give a great performance.
This movie is perfect not only for Tim Curry fans, but for people who just love to watch movies, especially older, obscure ones that no one has really ever heard of, but could never hurt to try. It is a great way to pass eighty-two minutes.
