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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Royal Shakespeare company Spoof par excellence, March 4, 2002
I love this movie. It ranks among my personal comedy favourites such as Blazing Saddles but for odd reasons. Others may focus on the rather sublime surrealism of the stage performances where Jeff Goldblum teams up with Rowan Atkinson on the London stage but for me the essence of this movie is the sending up of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Many of your readers will not be aware of a production that the RSC did of the horror flick Carrie. I am. I was there and lived to tell the tale. Needless to say the concept was horribly flawed and clearly did not attract much in the way of customer support and thankfully had only a short shelf life. The Tall Guy has some marvellous moments for instance the feather scene as well as a cartwheeling Goldblum on a hill in front of a large full moon. Emma Thompson in an unfamiliar role as an endearing nurse but the highlight of this quirky British movie has to be the scenes which centre on the RSC musical "Elephant". Any of your readers who are familiar with the theatre aristocracy in England will know of the position of the RSC in that hierarchy. In recent years the question of government financing, the Barbican theatre location in London have all been major drama productions with the whole entertainment world being given free seats by that great arts patron, the media. The RSC is a self-contained little world much like a living opera with extravagant gestures and larger than life characters. And here's the rub. Elephant exposes a lot of the inner workings of the RSC and pokes fun at them. And a good thing too. A production company which produces a Romeo and Juliet where Romeo dies by an intavenous injection of poison deserves to be poked fun at. Seriously though, the good thing about this is that it does show that the Brits can poke fun at their revered institutions whether they be Parliament or the RSC and not take everything too seriously. Watching the VHS version again recently in eager anticipation of the DVD release I was struck by the realisation that two masterly comic productions have yet to air on VHS or DVD which would find great favour with US audiences: Not the 9 O'Clock News and Spitting Image. On a final note there is something for music buffs too, the sight of... No I will not spoil it. Have great fun with this DVD. Now what about Yellowbeard? Postscript March 29 2002. After watching the DVD several times, I dug out my old PAL copy of the movie which I had devotedly brought over with me from merry olde England. I was aghast to find that six minutes have been cut, all of which is unnecessary and detract from the movie. The cuts are not pretty and should be restored. Please, if anyone out there is reading who has the authority to correct this butcher's savagery, please do so. There really is no need to chop this delightful movie...after all the sex was left in. If you can, try to see the original movie. It will make more sense that way. ...
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT film, BAD version... :(, March 26, 2002
There are actually two versions of this film available, one is 92 minutes long and the other is 85 minutes long. Now, which do you think would be the better film? Well, unfortunately, the version that was put to DVD is the tranced 85 minute version :( As for the movie itself, I first saw it on TV late one night (in the 92 minute version) and loved it so much that I went out and rented it on video a few days later. But of course this was that awful 85 minute version. I mean, there are lead up to punch lines that never happen (in the begining of the movie, Jeff Goldblum is at his apartment, which he shares with an over sexed, and a bit inconsiderate, female friend, and is making himself a glass of OJ by pouring the remaining drips of several empty OJ containers, that he finds all over the apartment, into a glass. And just as he's managed to make the glass half full, he's distracted by one of his roomates naked boyfriends, entering the kitchen. He puts down the glass, which his room mate ends up drinking on him. It's a funny sceen in the 92 min. version, but in the 85 min. one, she never drinks the juice, but we still see Jeff seraching the apartment for juice containers to drain into the glass. Also, funny, Rowen Atkinson, bits, are cut out of the 85 min. version. But, if you're a big fan of quirky comedy, Rowan Atkinson, or have ever wanted to see Emma Thompson in the buff... (yep, she has a funny nude sceen) then this movie's still a must have DVD (that is, unless you can find the 92 minute video, then you might want to go for that instead). It just STINKS, that the distributors didn?t bother to put in the effort to track down a print of the FAR superior 92 minute version, to put to DVD? :(
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hysterical!, May 12, 2003
THE TALL GUY has been a favorite of mine for years. I take great pride in being a fan of this "guilty pleasure" film! I try to turn people onto it as often as possible. THE TALL GUY, first and foremost, is very British in its humor, which means there is irony, surrealism, and jokes that don't depend on insults (Americans *love* the insult-joke). THE TALL GUY has the funniest sex scene (Goldblum and Thompson) that I've ever seen. And as others have mentioned, the ELEPHANT! musical is hysterical. I cried the first time I saw the musical numbers ... it's that hilarious. At heart, THE TALL GUY is a sweet romance. But its British sensibilities and backstage humor (Goldblum's character is an underdog actor) lifts it above an average screwball comedy. And Emma Thompson is very charming as Nurse Kate! One forgets after all of her serious Shakespeare and Jane Austin roles that she is quite a comedienne. So enjoy THE TALL GUY! And remember: "Somewhere up in heaven there's an angel with big ears."
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