Period!

I've seen all the Merchant/Ivory films since "Heat and Dust". I've been drawn to them by their usually top-drawer casts. Except for "A Room with a View" they are all unremittingly dull. Does anyone really _like_ "Maurice" or "Howard's End"? It's about the time the puffed-up pretension of these movies was deflated. "Stiff Upper Lips" tries -- with throwaway passing blows at "Chariots of Fire", "Gandhi", "Upstairs Downstairs", and any other film reminiscent of Edwardian England. It's a valiant try. Samuel West, one of the most promising young actors going, presents a very funny P.G. Wodehouse character stuck in an E. M. Forester world. Sean Pertwee comes off well, with what he's given. Oddly enough, it's the old hands, Peter Ustinov and Frank Finlay, who are most disappointing; Ustinov seems to have lost his timing with age, and Finlay is reduced to lavatorial humor in a character better played by Arthur Lowe in "The Ruling Class". The film looks convincingly like Merchant/Ivory. It's a pretty movie. And many of the gags do work. The problem is -- and it's a basic problem -- that too many of the gags are telegraphed ahead. This isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes a movie can take on a conspiratorial air with the viewer, and the two are in a jolly unison. Like Merchant/Ivory, this movie keeps its distance. The whole problem with M/I movies is that they're like paintings in a high-class gallery. You can look at them, but you can't get close to them. "Stiff Upper Lips" had to imitate this quality for a more perfect spoof, but in doing so lost its rapport with its audience. The best antidote to E. M. Forster-based pretension is simply to read P.G. Wodehouse, an author whose characters take their world very seriously though their travail is based on one's fear of aunts or the love for one's pig. Taking a solid Wodehouse novel and giving it the M/I treatment might've been better -- except that M/I is obsessed with sex, which is the major part of this movie, and the major reason that it ultimately comes off as a tawdry farce rather than a witty one.

This spoof of the classic EM Forster adaptations that were all the rage a few years ago rattles along nicely, with some nicely-turned humour. Most of the actors understand that this sort of thing needs to be underplayed, but Ustinov for one goes piling over the top in time-honoured fashion. A good-looking harmless bit of fun which should have got more attention than it did.

The parody has a long and glorious tradition. Some actors (Leslie Neilson) have made a career of such films. I had never seen an English parody of English films before, and if "Stiff Upper Lips" is typical of them, I probably won't want to watch another. From my perspective, the film presented an interesting dichotomy: Respected actors (Prunella Scales and Peter Ustinov), good location, nice camera work, expensive costuming... for an insipid piece of tripe. It was pretty easy to recognize the comic references to "Howards End" or "Room with a View" or "Chariots of Fire", but the references weren't funny. The people weren't funny. The comic timing was poor. The running joke of English class prejudice was clumsy and poorly executed. I think this film attempted something noble, but just plain failed in a few key areas. It had a lot of potential... the writers and director should watch a few classics in the genre (Blazing Saddles, Hot Shots, Loaded Weapon 1) before attempting their next parody. All that being said, I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and say my American sensibilities may have gotten in the way of understanding the "English" humor. But I have a sneaking suspicion people back in the UK questioned the quality of this one, as well.

Stiff Upper Lips is an incredibly funny spoof on Britain at the turn of the last century. The humour is very British (therefore some Americans may not understand it), and had people rolling in the aisles the time I saw it in 1998. However, the British humour meant that there was an immense lack of American backing. Over a year after the film was withdrawn in the UK, it was shown in the US - for about a week. Reviews about its "lack" of "humor" were largely based around American misunderstandings - in particular, Prunella Scale's wonderful line, which (roughly translated for our American readers) asked all American tourists to go home and stay home, was probably not received all that well. However, I found its self-deprecating humour and jibes against just about everyone (it is not exactly politically correct, thank heavens) delightful, witty and superb. The acting, as should be expected from Scales and Ustinov, was superb. The opening sketch involving a corset, a horse and a beautiful young maiden set the whole film off perfectly. This is zany comedy at its best. Will somebody please release it on video in Britain?!

I went to see this movie when it came into the cinema in 1998. The preview was gut-bustingly funny. What was shown had to be the funniest film to come out in a long time. I eagerly awaited the release date, rushed down to the cinema and watched 94 minutes of the worst cinema I've ever had to see. Quite literally every funny moment was in the preview. Although the story in itself was quite amusing, I felt completely cheated by the promise not meeting the actuality. Maybe the film is worth a couple more stars but after what happened, I can't bring myself to award higher than a 3.

I have always admired the way Merchant/Ivory films have had at their core a sort of droll humour that has come through and made me smile. This movie has taken every little bit that had made me crack a smile during the "serious" Merchant/Ivory productions and made me smile and laugh so much my cheeks hurt by the end of the movie. There are so many sight gags that I couldn't keep track of them all, and the ones I did see were enough for me to recommend this movie. Here's a little hint, just before George rescues Emily from drowning, take a look at what he's carving, maybe that's why he was little too eager to divest himself of his clothes. Don't get me wrong, I loved Howards End and Room with a view, but I also loved The Naked Gun and Airplane as well, this is the perfect hybrid of the two genres. The acting isn't in the least bit Hammy, the actors play it straight the whole way through, which is what makes this so funny, Samuel West probably being the best thing about this movie. His brainless upperclass twit played to perfection makes this a good movie for Masterpiece theatre watchers with a sense of humour.

This is a hilarious film designed to appeal to Anglophiles, particularly those who enjoyed Fawlty Towers and Monty Python. It is a takeoff on all those wearisome and often thought-provoking Masterpiece Theater films many of us know well. Only the British themselves could have made such glorious fun of this genre. I would give this the highest rating possible.

"Stiff Upper Lips" pokes fun at the crustiness of the British upper crust as it follows a silly ensemble of aristocrats from England to Italy to India and back. Those who groan at puns and mutter "humph!" at wry humor will likely enjoy "SUL" while those who don't will suffer the opposite reaction. How enjoyable this film is will depend solely on the sense of humor of the viewer. Funny or not, "SUL" is undeniably a jolly well done spoof.

This film is a glorious tribute to so many 'stiff' period pieces as well as such comedies as 'Carry on up the Kyber'. It is also beautiful to watch with real locations used in the UK, Italy and India (rather than at the back of Shepperton studios). While the plot may lag in some places, the references and in-jokes are so dense that you can blink and miss many of them. The list of movies and television series that are lampooned is massive, but a few include 'Chariots of Fire', 'Brideshead Revisited', anything with Helena Bonham-Carter, 'Upstairs Downstairs', 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Gandhi'. Peter Ustinov (Horace) letches like Sid James, Prunella Scales (Aunt Agnes) stands her ground like Joan Sims, Sam West (Edward) bumbles like Charles Hawtree and Robert Portal (Cedric) sneers almost like Kenneth Williams. Sean Pertwee (George) saves the day a la Jim Dale and Georgina Cates (Emily) is feisty like Barbara Windsor etc. etc. The scene where Cedric meets Aunt Agnes is priceless, if only for the 'Daughter of Zeus' gag. 'Stiff Upper Lips' is definitely worth seeing more than once.

Based on the title of this movie, I expected it to be a droll British comedy. Instead it was a laugh out-loud spoof of such films as A Room With A View, A Passage To India, Sense And Sensibility and others in that vein. I must admit that once I caught onto the joke it didn't seem quite as funny as it was at the beginning, but it was still one of the most amusing films I've seen in quite awhile. If you like British period movies and British humor, I highly recommend this one.