Whoops Apocalypse

If you're looking for the insanity and brilliance of the TV version here, look elsewhere. This is a pale imitation of the series, and a very dated movie. The movie version of Whoops is not like the TV series at all. In fact, it's really a remake in name only. The plot is completely different, centering around a skirmish in a small island run by the UK, and as a result, a royal princess is kidnapped and held for ransom until the island is returned to its people. This leads to a nuclear standoff with the Russians/Soviets. This was shot in the 1980's, so the plot mirrors the Falkland Islands situation at the time. While the original miniseries was also about the Cold War, it's much funnier and more timeless than this film. The film feels very compressed, rushing over things and trying to cram everything into a 90 minute running time. There are logic holes as well, especially dealing with the terrorist Lacrobat, played by Michael Richards. Lacrobat seems to be a magic man that has ready made disguises for every occasion and can outwit entire armies and nations in just a few minutes. Another issue is the rather silly ending. It feels lazy and even manipulative. There's also a really bad scene with a "rambogram" that feels like an outtake from The Naked Gun (which came out a year before this film).

Despite this, there are several great performances by Loretta Swit, Peter Cook, Ian Richardson, and as mentioned above, a funny turn by Michael "Kramer" Richards from Seinfeld. There are a few hilarious moments, mostly at the beginning of the film, but overall, it's a disappointing film.

Name a genre of political or social satire. It is in this movie. Name a sacred cow that needs to be kicked in the udders. A swift kick is delivered in this movie. Here's a sample. Loretta Swit is selected as vice president of the US because it is "PC". His first day in office the president dies. Our first female president is faced with some serious foreign policy decisions and decides to seek the advice of the former president, Murray Hamilton. You get the first hint of outrageous satire when her limo arrives at the gates of a federal prison. Hamilton portrays a hilarious amalgamation of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon in an understated performance that borders on genius. He takes a break from busting rocks and advises Swit with a lot of film-flam and jibber-jabber, then embraces the two Secret Services agents. They walk back to the limo talking about how the former president is the salt of the earth. When they turn around you see he has stolen the shirts off their backs while leaving their neckties and suit coats in place. After that the outrageous satire comes rapid fire in every scene. After every scene you think, "They can't upstage that." Then they do. In spades and doubled. It doesn't end until the end of the movie. See it with some friends. Laugh out loud.

I have also seen the tv-series, but preferred the movie, by far. It has aged well, like really good comedies typically do (see e.g. Life of Brian).

If you like British humour, you will love this.

What an utter disappointment. Forget this abysmal film and get hold of the TV series instead. What on earth were they doing making the American president relatively sane? ALL the politicians should have been bumbling buffoons (Peter Cook is good as the British PM). It lacks the biting satire of the original, going instead for "lowest common denominator" slapstick. 1 out of 10 if I'm being generous! This is unfortunately yet another example of a remake which totally misses the point of the original, the difference with this one being that they were both written by the same people.

One can always tell an excellent film if the opening credits make one guffaw ("The British partitioned the Island and took for themselves the upstairs rooms, fighting soon broke out of several mezzanines")and although the film wasn't quite Python it certainly had moments that made me snort my drink. The film did have a tendency to feel like a series of sketches but none the less Peter Cook's insane (although rather charismatic) Prime Minister is worth the purchase price alone. It was also some of the minor characters that provided some of the best laughs such as the former US president (looking the spitting image of Donald Rumsfeld) turned convict who published his memoirs "Commie Bastards I knew".

All in all an underrated classic