Car Trouble

I'm a big fan of Julie Walters. Don't make the same mistake as I did and watch this film. An attempt at comedy that didn't come close to making me laugh once. Very disappointing.

If you think it's boring listening to women talking about clothes you've never been with a bunch of blokes discussing cars.

There was a hilariously nightmarish scene in 'A Shot in the Dark' when Peter Sellers and Elke Sommer got stuck stark naked in the Parisian rush hour traffic. After a slow start this film picks up when Julie Walters (cutting quite a formidable figure in lipstick, eyeliner and big frizzy hair) finds herself in an even worse scrape in this old-fashioned sex comedy which within five years gained considerable poignancy as one of the very few films to star Ian Charleson, subsequently 'outed' by dying of AIDS. Mind you, it's highly improbable that Walters would have married such a nerd in the first place.

Ok, well I rented this movie while I was bed ridden hopped up on pain killers, and let me say, It didn't help the film any.

The film is about a man who buys a car as he is going through a midlife crisis, he loves the car more than anything around him, one day his wife decides to borrow the car. Since I don't want to spoil (not that there was anything to spoil) I shall let your imagination figure out the "Zany" (and I use that word lightly) antics that follow.

I had to fight to stay awake through this snore a minute sleeper of a film, and I would like to say that if you are venturing to the movie store and are thinking about being adventurous, please don't, it's a waste of the film it was printed on.

Then again I could be wrong...

Julie Walters, who has gone on to bigger (well, more publicized) and better things, stars as a neglected housewife of an air controller. His new car is the focus of his life. He will not let her touch the bright red machine, but one day she takes it for a "spin." Trouble ensues, including two hilarious instances with a car salesman where they become a bit too "amorous" in the car. The ending fails to supply the climax most of the audience would want, but is nonetheless enjoyable. I would give this four out of five stars simply for the situations depicted. It's no classic, but certainly a lot of fun. Walters is as manic as usual. If you have a chance, see her in "Dinner Ladies," a British comedy series in which she plays the dissolute mother of the star (who also wrote the series). In Dinner Ladies she's neither classy or beautiful, but simply hilarious.

What on earth were Ian Charleson and Julie Walters thinking when they signed on for this piece of sub-Carry On drivel? Perhaps the script looked different, or maybe the paycheck silenced all doubts. Whatever, this would have to be the most desperate, telegraphed (not to mention medically impossible) one trick pony I have ever seen involving a prodigal waste of otherwise reliable comic talent. If this film were a car, it would be a Morris Marina