The Impostors

Pure, tongue-in-cheek, humor from start to finish.

A near perfect film. Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt make a great duo in this comedy about two starving actors.

Desperate for food, they decide to con a pastry chef out of some of his pastry. As previously planned, Platt comes to the pastry chef's "rescue", but instead of getting pastry, he gets two tickets to see hack stage actor, Jeremy Burtom excellently played by Alfred Molina.

Through a series of incidents, Burtom threatens the boys with imprisonment if he catches them, The two end up accidentally stowing away on a cruise ship and that's when everything gets complicated.

An excellent cast was assembled for this superbly funny script. Watch for Campbell Scott, son of George C. Scott. His portrayal of a Nazi-like ship steward is hilarious.

My hat goes off to Stanley Tucci for doing an excellent job writing and directing this film! I only hope more people can see this jewel.

A very amusing film. It has elements of the Marx bros, Laurel and Hardy, Grand Hotel and Some Like It Hot. Really an homage to the screwball comedy films of the 30's that were chock full of great character actors. The plot is skimpy at best but half the fun is guessing the previous credits for the great cast. Look for an un-credited performance by Woody Allen as a distracted Broadway director.

What a bad idea! Was anyone wanting an update of Laurel and Hardy? Does anyone want to see two unattractive guys pawing each other for a whole picture? Does anyone want to see a bunch of New York dramatic actors trying to act like they're funny? Does anyone want to hear the same bad musical selections played over and over while the actors run through the same hallways again and again? Bad bad bad. The only good moment is at the end, when the entire cast dances off the set and you know that the movie is officially over.

Stanley Tucci really knows what he's doing. This film, which for some odd reason wasn't really very well received. This movie is funny and smart and very easy to like.

But the acting isn't just the reason that this film is one of my personal favorites, it's also because of the superb script. It's brilliantly paced and full of laughter and intrigue.

Tucci's film deserves a look, but really, watch the film as a comedy, don't take it too seriously.

3.5/4

Rented THE IMPOSTORS for the first time on Friday and by the end of the weekend had watched it 4 times - and yes, I do have a life. Blithe is the only word I can use to describe the experience of watching this video. In a world of multi-screen theaters that show a variation of 3 basic movies - mindless action, gross-out comedy, or big-screen version of the issue of the week - THE IMPOSTERS was a homage to an earlier genre - the silly, almost plotless comedies of Laura & Hardy. Homage - not remake - an important difference. This was definitely a 1990's movie - more quirky than slapstick, with slick production values. A series of vingettes, tied together to make a whole, yet each scene easily stands on its own as a comic gem - the initial credits being my personal favorite. One final word - all this and a great cast! and score. This movie was a rare 10.