Customer Reviews

French & Saunders: Gentlemen Prefer [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders emerged on the British comedy scene as one of the new crop of performers who began at the "Comic Strip" club. This clan produced great TV comedy throughout the '80s & '90s, much to America's indifference: "The Young Ones (the most successful of the bunch stateside)," "The Comic Strip Presents...," "Bottom," "Filthy, Rich, & Catflap," and "French & Saunders." Then, Jennifer Saunders wrote and starred in a program based on a sketch from a "French & Saunders" show called "Absolutely Fabulous." Of course, it became an worldwide hit and put Saunders on the map. "AbFab" is unquestionably brilliant and Edina Monsoon a fantastic creation but the fact that Yanks love "AbFab" while remaining ignorant of "French & Saunders" is like having people love John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers" while never having seen his work in "Monty Python's Flying Circus." "French & Saunders," being a sketch show, covers a wider range of subjects and humor than "AbFab" and reveals Dawn French as a formidable talent on her own and a perfect compliment to Saunders. Many of the shows parody popular films and musical acts and, while some pieces may be very dry, others are rather vulgar and savage. Personally, I think these shows are greater than "AbFab" in that there is so much more in them - including the full breadth of Saunders talent (both women have an endless stream of diverse characters inside them). Grab this disc and discover what they already know overseas: that French & Saunders are the greatest comedy team of the past 20 years!

Anyone unfamiliar with this long established comedic duo is in for a treat. Their well crafted use of repetitive humour and uncanny 'spoof' techniques make other lesser parody comedians seem trite. Sets and costumes alone are reason enough to invest in this gem of British comedy, but it is the dialogue and nuance which draws one into their world. A world which lies "somewhere between crap and mediocre". We however know the reality!

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are two of the funniest women in British comedy today. (They are the co-writers of the hit show, Absolutely Fabulous!) Their sketch-comedy show, French & Saunders, is rightly considered one of the funniest that the BBC has ever produced. This disk contains some 2 hours and 20 minutes of their hilarious sketches. In it, they parody everything from television experts to home shopping to women's' magazines.

Overall, I found this to be a hilariously funny disk! I watched this with my family, and we all loved it. Is there a funnier French & Saunders video out there? I don't know, but I intend to find out! I love French & Saunders and recommend this DVD to all fans of great Britcom.

I rate these folks fairly highly because I understand British idiom and humo(u)r. If you are an American, trust that your mileage may vary on how well this tickles your funny bone. It is a good bit more sedate than "Monty Python", that's for sure.

No doubt about it - Saunders and French are chameleons. I suspect a big award goes to the wardrobe and makeup crew who work with them, but we have a somewhat convincing 250 pound Jane Russell (French) doing schtick with a middle-aged Marilyn Monroe (Saunders).

The DVD has sketches, not one running story. In this one, they lampoon opera divas, publishers of utterly worthless "stocking stuffer" books (I am resisting spoiling it and will not post the title of the dreadful book,but it is funny.), boring chat shows (one has the two women chatting earnestly about what the Queen had for "elevenses"), two rustic housewifes bragging about fleecing the yuppies ("She offered me 100 quid for the loo!"), and (my favorite) a couple of dour and indestructible old women in Wellies with two large dogs under the table.

The sketches I did not like were the "Gone With The Wind Sketch" ( Too many "Fiddle-dee-dees" for my taste) and the visit to the friend in jail sketch (I got bored, so sue me.).

Oh, yeah, this DVD also has the sketch that spawned the entire "Absolutely Fabulous".

"Gentlemen Prefer French and Saunders" is truly the best of the 4 F&S DVD's. I bought the "Set", and what a bargain! I watched the first three DVD's today, and laughed for hours. If you are looking for some silly, yet witty entertainment I suggest these DVD's. I have begun to refer to F&S as "Monty-Pyfemme. A wonderful addition to my growing BBC DVD library! Make sure to watch the bonus sections - usually they are the best parts.

I recently purchased this fabulous DVD of "Gentlemen Prefer French & Saunders." The reason I say "Sweetie Dahling" is because this one contains the original skit of "Absolutely Fabulous". Warning: don't expect big laughs from this skit on AbFab. You'll be disappointed. J. Saunders is dressed in some funky bohemian outfit as D. French is wearing a very dorky schoolgirl frock, in which the real Saffy wears. It's safe to say that the AbFab episodes have toned down their characters and aren't as haphazardly animated. They've refined it in the AbFab tapes if you can believe that.
Despite the disappointing AbFab skit, the rest of the skits are brilliant. I nearly died laughing when Jennifer and Dawn play two back-up singers for a cheesy recording of Kylie Minogue's "I should be so lucky". They join the real opera diva, Sarah Walker.
There is a hilarious spoof on "The Exorcist". Dawn French plays little Reagan, who sticks her lizard like tongue out at Jennifer during a medical examination.

The best part about this DVD is that it has newer F&S skits that you can't find anywhere else. Don't bother looking for them on their own seperate DVD or VHS. You can however find the skits shown on BBCAmerica from time to time.

Probably the best of the F&S compilations. This one includes the "I'm So Lucky In Love" sketch where Dawn and Jen are two opera singers slumming through pop music. There's plenty of good sketch comedy here, including the hysterical movie spoof "Whatever Happened to Baby Dawn". A must for all true French and Saunders fans! And to the uninitiated too!

You can't live without this DVD!! Hilarious!! If you need your humour wet, enough to soak you with a super soaker...or shall I say, if that kind of thing amuses, you won't like this....but if your sense of humour is dry as the desert and you can understand heavy BRIT...you'll love THIS!!! Run and buy it!!

These two women are so hysterical I can't even begin to describe it. I'm nostagically giggling to myself at this very moment and I haven't seen this particular video (Gentlemen Prefer French and Saunders) in over five months. I'm on amazon ordering it right now, because I miss it so much. It is sheer comic brilliance. I'd even venture to say that I "love" it! I do! And that's okay!

A big fan of dawn french. I am a life-time fan after the vicar of dibley series. i had problems enjoying the very dry humor of this dvd and the differnt sketches. it would be nice to see dawn french in another tv series.