Ein Papst zum Küssen

I recently hired a VHS of the Comic Strip feature film "The Pope Must Die" (starring Robbie Coltrane), which unapologetically presents the premise that the Vatican is run by dolts and scheming money-grabbing opportunists, some of whom are backed by the mafia.

The plot revolves around the consequences of a clerical error which caused a totally incorruptible and highly compassionate priest to be elected as Pope. When the Pope attempts to give all the Vatican's riches to help the poor, his fate is sealed. This film may be a comedy - but it's easy to suspect that there are large elements of truth involved. That being said - there is no attempt by the film-makers to portray the rank and file clergy as anything less than good people doing their charitable best in the world.

I am amazed at the convincing (to my untravelled eye) locations that were secured by the producers for the interior shots.

Paul Bartel turns in one of his best performances - on par with Robbie Coltrane. It's not a perfect script or plot, but the errors are few and this film has plenty of heart.

So goes this irreverent, and often hilarious "black comedy." The film does have several problems, starting with the name change from "The Pope Must Die", to "The Pope Must Diet." The movie has nothing to do with diets, but the Mob is trying to kill the Pope. Performances are uneven, from Robbie Coltrane being an acceptable totally unqualified Pope, to brilliant characterizations of unscrupulous Vatican Clergy, by Paul Bartel and Alex Rocco. That's in addition to appearances by Beverly D'Angelo and Herbert Lom. The editing is somewhat choppy, and the violence comes and goes, however overall the film succeeds as entertainment, mostly due to the inventive script, and class actors. No religious apologies are necessary, for this outrageous and hilarious comedy. MERK

I heard the story of them changing the title of this movie and without even seeing it, I was very upset that they would give into pressure from a church and change the name. After seeing the movie, it's clear that if you have a problem with the title, you are a humorless turd.It's funny that the church never complained about the mob picking the Pope. Starring Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid from Harry Potter) and Beverly D'Angelo and written by Peter Richardson(the man behind The Comic Strip Presents), this movie is hilarious and action packed. The mob is picking the new Pope and a hard of hearing clerk(Adrian Edmondson,Vyvyan from The Young Ones)hears the name wrong and a guitar playing priest from an orphanage becomes the new Pope. The only way to get rid of him is to kill him. Wackiness ensues. This is a must see.

To compete with King Ralph, this hot mess of a movie was rushed out to make a few dollars. The result is a stupid movie. While King Ralph is ridiculous, it is not dumb. It is a comical look into a very odd and unlikely scenario where an unlikely person becomes King. On the other hand, this movie is dumb. The Pope Must Die / Diet tries to be a comical story about a stupid scenario where an unlikely, unquailed, unknown and unpopular person becomes Pope without any checks or balances or common sense.

In a word where there is no checks and balances and where movies rely on one joke scenes, the Pope Must Die / Diet fails on all levels. A waste of a talented cast, the storyline Is not only dumb but insults its audience to allow any notion that the premise is believable. King Ralph is entertaining for a vast audience, young and old. There are multiple funny moments along with drama which makes it a good movie.

This sad excuse of a movie has no drama or comedy and, worse, has no audience. It is an insult to comedy, drama, Catholics, Italians, mobsters and even common sense. There are moments worth watching, but for an 84-minute movie, there should be at least a minute or two worth stomaching, let alone digesting. All in all, this is just crap.

Some scenes are just completely ignorant without any signs of worth. King Ralph would have some smart explanations to compliment the slapstick and over the top funny moments. Here, there are scenes that are just filler to get to the next scene. There is no purpose other than to just add more time to this mess of a movie.

The late Robbie Coltrane does his best to be a John Goodman Jr in his portrayal of a bumbling clown that has accidently slipped into the shoes of the Pope. Still, his character is only given moments to explain his back story and motivation. He never questions anything until he puts on the papal vestments, travels across Italy and is shown the insulting fictional accounts of the Pope's residents. This is not only hard to swallow for any audience member that you want to connect with this character, who is supposed to be likeable and sympathetic. It is hard to consider him either as the story gets more and more unrealistic.

In defense of this crap movie, by the halfway point, the movie becomes a complete farce. Although it tries to have some dramatic flair, the movie abandons any effort to be serious and goes into complete joke show to keep some members of the audience entertained.

Like chocolate spaghetti this movie has an acquired taste and a limited audience. With a re-write, this movie could be considered a cult classic. It is not because you can tell, this movie was rushed to make a deadline.

I don't normally like Peter Richardson's Comic Strip films, so why I watched this I don't know. However, it was much better than I expected, and, despite a few expletives, I thought it quite subtle in places. It's not very original in plot (which takes in rather too much), but the cast is quite good (Coltrane, Lom, Rocco), and the only people who might object are those who think it's anti-religious, which I feel it turns out not to be. I'm not a crackpot or a religious fanatic, although I don't think the film would appeal to the latter group !