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A very much lighter and more humorous version of "The Ugly American", this film spotlights the misadventures of a naive and utterly clueless diplomat as he attempts to assume the role of foreign diplomat in an unnamed African country. The lead character is vacuously played by no one that most audiences would recognize, or remember for that matter. I found myself hoping to see Sam Neill come creeping up in the next scene. Brilliant performances by Diana Rigg, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Sean Connery, along with several other known and unknown actors, provided intriguing counterpoint and kept me watching. As with any good satire, I was enticed to confront many assumptions, beliefs and contradictory feelings. There is much original humour and more than a few tributes to revered filmography - enough to keep me laughing, smiling and/or trying to remember what movie was being referred to, for most of the movie. Comedy/satire may not be Beresford's best long suit, but I'll take this over just about any Hollywood comedy movie I've seen in quite some time.

This movie was tolerable - I sat through it all, but it wouldn't have been missed at all if I'd never seen it. The antics of the British High Commission are almost (but not quite) laughable, and the Poms must have been a bit miffed that their embassy was mainly staffed by Aussies and Yanks with weak accents. In any case, the idea definitely held promise, it just didn't eventuate. Fortunately it was only 90 mins. long. Sean Connery puts in a tolerable performance but all too little, too late for this film. Even the lovely Joanne Whalley doesn't help. In all, don't bother, but if you must, there are worse things you could do.

Don't be fooled by the "East Africa" disclaimer. This is about Nigeria, specifically Lagos at the time of the oil boom, when it was the capital. Although many names have been changed, the Yoruba thunder god, Shango, is not, nor are some of the others.

There was so much humor possible in that time and place (you had to laugh just to keep from crying sometimes) that of course some of it found its way into the film. The author never understood what was happening, so of course he missed a lot, but then he made the very ignorance of the British one of the butts of his humor. God I love British humor, I envy them for it and I'm grateful to them for giving us Chaplin, Bob Hope, and so many others. But I digress. And this film is not on the level of Chaplin or Hope. I was disappointed.

The biggest disappointment was watching great talents like Sean Connery, Diana Rigg and Lou Gossett sleepwalking through their roles on their way to a paycheck. They could have done better.

Well I just finished watching this movie and all I can say is that I had a fun time. It's not your average kind of movie either. Not sure if they had intended it to be a funny movie but this movie does have some genuinely funny moments.

Also it has Sean Connery which I found rather surprising and being a Connery fan I stuck with the film to the end and it was well worth it.

A Definite 6/10 from me.

A Good Man in Africa is a parody of Africa. The action takes place in an imaginary African country, Kinjaja. The movie centres around Morgan Leafy, a British diplomat and a gigolo who wants countless damsels. Morgan isn't a memorable character, he can't be a role model, but the character does develop throughout the movie.

One flaw of the movie is false advertisement. On the DVD cover we see Sean Connery in the front plan, on another DVD cover we don't even see Morgan. Even the description doesn't mention Morgan; this is made to make us believe that Sean Connery plays a major role, but he doesn't. He plays a white doctor, Alex Murray, a doctor at the local hospital. Needless to say, Connery is the best actor in the movie. He's there only for about 10 minutes in total. And yet he has a major role? Very cheap strategy.

A Good Man in Africa has light, subtle humour, it may not be funny, but it's original. As I've said before, it's a parody of Africa, politics in Africa, the African man himself and the white man trying to fit in. Mildly racist, mildly funny, overall - decent.

Final Score: 2.5/5 or 5/10