Review Date:
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Writer: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Producers: Simon Bosanquet
Actors:
Geoffrey Rush as Peter Sellers, John Lithgow as Blake Edwards, Charlize Theron as Britt Ekland |
Hopkins used a similar technique successfully in UNDER SUSPICION a few years ago, but it doesn’t work here, feeling out of place and contrived. Furthermore, the movie doesn’t really provide much depth into the man himself and essentially just glosses over the major high points in his career (which, between me and you, are basically the PINK PANTHER movies and DR. STRANGELOVE) Even sadder is the fact that the film tells us that Sellers was never happy with either his performances in the PANTHER films or the fact that he was “reduced” to doing them, which is surely not something any fan of those movies (and his work in them) wants to hear (I know I didn’t). Thankfully for all of you, this bio-flick will only be showing as a HBO movie in the States, which is exactly where it belongs. The only redeeming quality of this picture, and it is a pretty big one, is the brilliant portrayal of Sellers by Rush. He looks amazingly like the man here, and really manages to make you forget about his “acting” and focus on Sellers, the character, instead. Like most other TV movies though, the film also suffers from a lack of character development (who is the first wife again, and why is Emily Watson playing her?) and tepid dialogue such as “I’m the big star now, they can’t do anything without me!” Really, is that really something he said? Even one of the film’s last scenes between Edwards and Sellers feels forced and unreal (did they really meet like that in the snow, etc…). I don’t know.
Overall, the film’s biggest problem is that its lead is a man who apparently didn’t have much “life” or “depth” of his own, which ironically enough, makes even the rendering of his own life story, well…life-less and depth-less. Next time, focus on someone’s life that’s a little more engaging, original, exciting or at the very least…entertaining. This film was boring, if nothing else. PS: Sonia Aquino was hot as Sofia Loren in this film and Loren is hot on her own as well…even to this day!
Follow the JOBLO MOVIE NETWORK
Follow us on YOUTUBE
Follow ARROW IN THE HEAD
Follow AITH on YOUTUBE