Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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158 of 160 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, sir!, January 15, 2003
P.G. Wodehouse wrote funny stories. Obscenely hilarious comedy stories about dim young aristocrats, overbearing aunts and very clever servants.
And of all his creations, the most memorable is the ill-fated and blue-blooded Bertie Wooster and his megabrained valet Jeeves, immortalized by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. "The Complete Jeeves & Wooster" brings together all their madcap, bizarre little adventures in England's upper echelongs, with many a disastrous engagement and stint in prison.
Bertie Wooster (Laurie) is in need of a valet, and after a wild night out, the low-key, brainy manservant Jeeves (Fry) is sent by an agency to deal with Bertie's everyday needs.
But Jeeves doesn't just fold Bertie's hankies and give him hangover tonics -- he keeps Bertie out of all kinds of trouble. Predatory young beauties, ditzy idiot pals of Bertie's, and domineering aunts trying to marry him off, Bertie is always in hot water -- and Jeeves always is on hand, with a plot cooking in his impressive brain, to haul his hapless employer out.
"The Complete Jeeves and Wooster" is quite faithful to Wodehouse's original stories -- some stories are combined and others are separated, but they draw heavily on his kooky, bizarro prose. Lots of overbearing old aunts, exploding safes, Neo-Nazis, a constant merry-go-round of oft-broken engagements, eccentric hobbies (newts!), and young women ranging from horribly hearty to airy-fairy.
The only problem is that the stories set in New York just don't have that delicious British flavour that the rest of the series does, although they're still quite funny (Bertie being chased by a berserk cop dressed in a harem outfit). That, and the cast changes continuously.
But those small flaws don't keep the series from being hilarious, from start to finish. Every plot is a hopeless tangle of infatuations, mixups, blackmail, little books of mockery, and stolen policemen's helmets -- and yet somehow Jeeves manages to untangle it by the end. And Wodehouse's dialogue is handled in a brilliant manner ("Because he is a butterfly, who toys with women's hearts and throws them away like soiled gloves!" "Do butterflies do that?").
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are perfectly cast as the endearing bumbler Bertie Woosterand the dryly witty Jeeves. Though Bertie's lack of clothing sense (and a trombone) often annoys Jeeves, the brainy valet clearly does have affection for Bertie, and Bertie appreciates Jeeves' ability to save him from fates worse than death (such as marriage to the horribly hearty Honoria or the wispy, fairy-loving dimbulb Madeleine).
"The Complete Jeeves and Wooster" is a simply brilliant stretch of what-ho-what-ho comedy ("You can't be a successful dictator AND design women's underclothing") and deliciously twisting storylines. Not to be missed. Ever.
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent series, below average video transfer, November 20, 2006
This series was made and acted with great love for P.G. Wodehouse, his writing and his characters. Wodehouse is perhaps the great comic author of the 20th century English speaking world. And these series does Wodehouse justice to the great credit of the series' actors and writers.
But unfortunately the video to DVD transfer, in terms of picture and colour quality, leaves something to be desired. I have seen single series DVD versions of the Jeeves & Wooster and their video colour quality is superior to the reproduction in this complete set. Hopefully one of these days we will see a complete digital remastering of the series, but this box set is visually disappointing. It's a shame the excellent work of the writers, directors and actors has had below average DVD transfer. The 'standard' transfer quality we are used to these days is generally very good, not so here.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They have definitely captured the essence of the books, May 21, 2005
There are some very detailed reviews here, so I won't repeat what's on offer and who's who.
Let me just say that P.G. Wodehouse's books are super funny. I have read almost every single one of his scores of novels, short stories and plays, and have not found one bad apple - they are either good, brilliant or extraordinary. And of all his books, those dealing with the immortal Jeeves and his amiably idiotic employer Bertie Wooster are arguably the best.
This TV series has captured the essence of those books. The acting, the direction, the locations, the dresses of the actors, the situations are perfect. It's comedy at its unpretentious best.
Buy it, you will love it.
Here's an addition to this review after watching over 3/4ths of the titles in this set:
I would probably give this set 4.5 out of 5 stars, only for one reason: the many changes to the actors who play the supporting roles to Jeeves and Wooster in the various episodes. (Thank God they did not change Jeeves and Wooster, they are BRILLIANT.) It's a little disconcerting to watch, like and get used to Bingo Little in season 1, only to discover a new actor playing him in season 2. Or the celebrated aunts. Or a few others.
Overall, though, I would reiterate that this is a very funny series worth buying.
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