Nigel Stone (2003) User Reviews

tongue in cheek

[natebell · 8/10 · 10 July 2006]

A bright, smart-alecky parody of detective movie conventions, apparently conceived after too many viewings of The Naked Gun. There's too much dead air around the dialogue (as though the filmmakers were planning on adding canned laughter) for the screwy, rapid-fire aesthetic to really work, but Nathan Shane Miller's screenplay has wit, structure and a refreshingly politically incorrect sensibility (especially in regard to the ugly or the physically handicapped). It also has very little to do with film noir. In fact, its closest cinematic cousin is probably the Saturday morning cartoon, with its two buffoonish henchmen (a trashcan robot and a malignant mime) and their broadly caricatured boss, the optically afflicted Alexei Cliché. The woozy premise is given a helping hand by Phil Eastvold's rich, creamy 16mm color photography, frugal but spiffy production values, and Winton White's sexy sax score.

corny but funny

[pups_pals · 30 April 2004]

I bought the Biola University Film Festival DVD just so I could see this film. Even though it was technically too long for the film festival there, it was so funny that they showed it anyway afterwards.

Nigel's slips of the tongue and the ugly girl are the best jokes. But you'll be laughing the whole way through.

It was filmed partly on the Disney lot.

Just thinking back on it makes me smile.