The Hippopotamus

A clapped out poet brings his powers of perception to an English country house acclaimed for its miraculous cures, and finds more than he bargained for ...

Lovely doff of the cap to English detective fiction, although it finds much humour in declining to avert its gaze from the nonsense of the convention. The theme of miracle cures is important, so the one scene of emotion toward the end matters a lot - I didn't feel it, maybe because the moment of death was never addressed thematically. Hey - it's a country estate, built on the deaths of others.

The pace and humour are good, and the hero is perfectly smashed and detached. The weakness is in the supporting characters - not the performances, but their drama and the necessity of their presence. No great turns or lines, and I guess that's down to the original writing.

Music and sets are gorgeous, editing keeps it clipping along.

Overall: Insightful and entertaining, not so dramatic.

I could feel Stephen Fry in the leading role, that's how good Roger Allam is. He also carried the movie through the slow beginning. The story is intriguing, fun, sad, and happy, all at the same time. It's a shame I hadn't heard of it until I happened upon it while browsing the free section of Amazon Prime. Well worth a watch, as long as one is not very religious or uptight.

Don't expect a hilarious comedy or so because it isn't but there are some funny moments, especially by the spoken words. You can clearly hear Stephen Fry speaking through Ted Wallace, a waterfall of words, sometimes harsh and sometimes funny. Ted Wallace did a good job playing his character, a lost soul that drinks way too much, investigating what could be a miracle curer. The rest of the cast all contributed in their way to the story. A story that might not be for everybody, like the reviews and ratings clearly shows, but if now and then you like the complexity of the English language instead of the usual stuff you might enjoy this movie. It's worth watching once in my opinion.

This is a beautifully well made, extraordinary well acted movie. I would argue it's quite a high brow watch, but then you should be expecting that.

There isn't exactly a plot of sorts, other than someone is hired to solve a series of mysteries, other than that it just seems to be a series of random occurrences.

The visuals are really nice, great location work, and an incredible setting.

The characters are larger than life let's say, the best element for me was the acting of the ever wonderful Roger Allam.

It feels very disjointed in parts, but overall it's definitely worth your time, the dialogue is wonderful at times.

Worth seeing, 7/10.

A drunk, washed-up poet is hired to solve a family mystery.

The main character is a highly literate pompous old fellow struggling with his own existence. A lot of the comedy comes from him insulting people using very long words, which I found very amusing.

There is not a lot to this movie. Don't expect dramatic plot twists, edge of the seat action, moving performances or fire works of any kind. But this film achieves what it sets out to do perfectly!

This film is gentle, interesting, funny and quite refreshing.

This is definitely a Sunday afternoon watch, but for that time slot it is perfect! Production, acting, script are all exceptional!

This film hasn't tried to reach too far and it pays off dividends.

Watch this after your Sunday roast with a drink for a perfect afternoon.