Are You Being Served?

As a fan of the wonderful Britcom, I searched and searched for a copy of this movie. When I finally found it, I was disappointed. I like the characters much better in the store -- they just don't do well outside of Grace Brothers. It was a bit dull that many of the jokes were pulled from the TV shows (e.g. the "Dear Sexy Knickers ..." note; Mrs. Slocombe making offensive noises while blowing up her air mattress, etc.) and the ending was an abrupt letdown. Still a worthwhile watch for any fan of the show, but don't expect a lot.

This big screen outing for the employees of Grace Bros. sees Mrs. Slocombe (Mollie Sugden) delivering her first pussy gag within the opening few minutes ("Would you mind holding my pussy?"), which is as it should be, the film giving fans of the TV series exactly what they expect. On the menu: bedroom farce (or should that be 'bed-tent' farce?), sexist humour, xenophobia, homophobic comedy, racial stereotypes, and some quality crumpet. Don't bother watching if you're a PC millennial - this will prove too upsetting for your delicate sensibilities - but those who can appreciate '70s comedy in all of its wonderful, unpolitically-correct glory should have a lot of fun as Grace Bros.' staff cause chaos on a Mediterranean holiday (while the department store is closed for redecoration).

Much like Carry On Abroad (1972), which saw the Carry On team embarking on a package holiday to Spain, Are You Being Served?: The Movie transports the TV show's regular characters to the Costa Plonka, where sun, sea, sangria and sex are the order of the day. Much hilarity ensues as the staff let their inhibitions go and try to satisfy the carnal desires that they've been suppressing for so long. The humour doesn't always work, especially with the lack of live audience laughter, but there are enough comedic gems throughout to keep avid fans of the show happy: a pair of chattering clockwork teeth find their way inside a mannequin's trunks with hilarious results, a hairy caterpillar gives Mr. Humphries (John Inman) a shock, Andrew Sachs adapts his Manuel routine for the role of hotel manager Don Carlos, and Mr. Humphries gets to dress in drag, not once, but twice (disguising himself as Mrs. Slocombe and a nun). Wendy Richards (as Miss Brahms) and Sugden get the funniest lines: "I wouldn't mind if he wasn't so bleedin' common", "We're having it continental style", and "I usually give my pussy an airing this time of night".

As for the crumpet... Miss Nicholson (Penny Irving), Mr. Grace's sexy secretary, is stunning, and Conchita (Karan David), the gorgeous hotel servant girl, could clack my castanets any day of the week (interestingly, both actresses appeared in Pete Walker's sleazy 1974 horror House of Whipcord, helping to make that film one of my favourite British horrors of the decade).

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

If you're a fan of the BBC series, this movie is worth watching just as a curiosity – it's fun to see these much-beloved characters on holiday and up to their usual shenanigans – but honestly, there's not much artistic value in it as a stand-alone work, and if you weren't familiar with the characters, it wouldn't make much sense. The sets are low-budget, the special effects laughable, and, as noted previously, much of the dialog is lifted directly and without revision from various episodes. It seems to me that someone was just attempting to cash in on the popularity of the series without putting much effort or financing into it. Given the talent of the cast and the creative synergy that they shared, it could've been much more than it is.

As a fan of "Fawlty Towers" as well, I have to say that Andrew Sachs is a delight as Don Carlos Bernardo – fancy Manuel finally running his own hotel!

I have seen "Are you being served" many times over since the early 90's. In fact, I could probably restate word for word every episode made over the 13 year run (1972 - 1985). While I loved every episode of the TV series, the movie did not provide the same level of satisfaction.

MOVIE PLOT: Grace Brothers store is being remodeled and the crew is offered a 2 week Holiday vacation in Costa Planka.

ACTING: If you are very familiar with the TV Series, you will notice right away that most of the jokes were taken directly from the various episodes. One joke per episode with laugh tracks worked very well. But when you combine 5 or 6 and remove laugh tracks, you quickly lose interest. It looked like they grabbed whatever material they had from the earlier TV series and just cramped it into a 90 minute movie in a different setting... You will also notice that the characters looked very distracted and from time to time it seemed like they weren't even paying attention to the surroundings. Pay attention how the hostess girl in the hotel repeats her line word for word within a minute when she is trying to cuddle up with Mr. Humphries. Looked like she was reading directly from the script. There were also many inconsistencies. At one point everyone wanted to run for the bathroom, but after Mrs. Slocombe used it, no one seemed to want to go anymore??? Have they forgotten? Another one is when they kept writing notes to each other at the dinner table. I can see how there could be one mixup, but 3 or 4? One of the very first episodes featured a similar mixup but it was done as a part of a bigger scheme. Not in a movie, though.

SET: Here is another failure. The set looked extremely cheap, it was very obvious that the whole movie was done inside a TV studio, the lighting and shadow was even worse than in a TV series. The general feel of the set was like a Soap Opera. They must have had a very little budget to do this movie. It would have worked much better if they did 3 separate episodes 30min each, with laugh tracks.

CONCLUSION: If you love the TV series, it is worth to watch this movie. It has its moments but for the most part there was nothing new that the 30 min. series offered.

I watched this film last night on a free DVD given away with a national newspaper and i have to say my wife and i I ENJOYED IT! Yes,it has oodles of cheese and camp moments but it was fun.I love the funky,Are you being served? opening theme tune at the beginning and the movie feel picture quality.Yes,the script is dodgy but not as dodgy as the Costa Plonka in a studio with cheap sets and the pretty abrupt ending with young Mr Grace storming through the hotel wall in an armoured vehicle dressed like he has just stepped out of Dad's Army! I never really cared much for the series only having seen a few episodes so i wasn't affected by the repeat joke syndrome so i found the film really amusing.Menswear!