It seems awfully redundant to have to say that Peter O'Toole is good, but the truth is that he really is. He and Adrian Lester as the writer hired to do O'Toole's own version of his autobiography provide the most memorable characters.
There are a couple of funny ideas in this movie. The very notion of a game show in which a young man and his girl friend can win varying amounts of money depending on the intensity of the electric chock he's willing to give her is funny in itself. And the way the scene is shot, it's even funny when the damme machine goes berserk and electrocutes the young man in a shower of sparks.
I also enjoyed the smarmy American impressarios who are considering buying either O'Toole's show or that of his rival. We hear this smooth American-tinted voice only over a conference phone, saying things like, "Now, now. I didn't say we weren't going to buy your show. I said we were going to keep in touch. And when I say keep in touch I mean keep in touch. So let's keep in touch."
O'Toole seems much older than the last time I saw him in a film. Even his strikingly blue irises have faded with time. No criticism of O'Toole is meant -- we all have our life courses to bear -- but it is kind of sad. Adrian Lester is outstanding too, as I said. He's a handsome guy and plays the intense straight-shooter very well here, as he did in "Primary Colors."
The movie would have been more successful if it had settled for being an amusing comedy with dark undertones. Instead it's a bitter tragedy with a few funny moments thrown in. In the end, a dead father lies on the lawn facing his dead son. They'd only discovered their relationship just before they died. It's too sad and the image drowns out the memory of antyhing amusing that might have preceded it. Give me a doomsday device destroying the planet while conniving politicians figure out how they can survive at everyone else's expense.
There are a couple of funny ideas in this movie. The very notion of a game show in which a young man and his girl friend can win varying amounts of money depending on the intensity of the electric chock he's willing to give her is funny in itself. And the way the scene is shot, it's even funny when the damme machine goes berserk and electrocutes the young man in a shower of sparks.
I also enjoyed the smarmy American impressarios who are considering buying either O'Toole's show or that of his rival. We hear this smooth American-tinted voice only over a conference phone, saying things like, "Now, now. I didn't say we weren't going to buy your show. I said we were going to keep in touch. And when I say keep in touch I mean keep in touch. So let's keep in touch."
O'Toole seems much older than the last time I saw him in a film. Even his strikingly blue irises have faded with time. No criticism of O'Toole is meant -- we all have our life courses to bear -- but it is kind of sad. Adrian Lester is outstanding too, as I said. He's a handsome guy and plays the intense straight-shooter very well here, as he did in "Primary Colors."
The movie would have been more successful if it had settled for being an amusing comedy with dark undertones. Instead it's a bitter tragedy with a few funny moments thrown in. In the end, a dead father lies on the lawn facing his dead son. They'd only discovered their relationship just before they died. It's too sad and the image drowns out the memory of antyhing amusing that might have preceded it. Give me a doomsday device destroying the planet while conniving politicians figure out how they can survive at everyone else's expense.