duvel71

Like a great deal of British comedy of the time, The Best House In London ends up degenerating into wacky silliness toward the end. But then, when you've referenced just about every other British literary genius and comic of the last two centuries, failing to give an enthusiastic nod and bow to the Goons would be rude. And rude just will not do.

Some may consider films such as these "bad", and theoretically I guess they'd be right. But if you're even a passing fan of the British comedy tradition, this movie brings together an intelligent and funny script by the brilliant Denis Norden, and a large cast of inspired and famous British comics. Its outrageous premise offers scope for first-class humour, great inter-textual pedantry, and witty social commentary. In the tradition of the Goons, the film is a biting and staggeringly funny indictment of Victorian moralism and piety, which was as apt in the post-war decades as it is in the politically-correct eco-religious world of today.

If you object to seeing middle-class hypocrisies (not to mention none-too-innocent maidens) skewered, don't see it. Otherwise, I can heartily recommend it.

If you're a fan of British humour, you need this in your collection, alongside the Goons, the Pink Panther, Blackadder, Monty Python, Spitting Image and the collected writings of Oscar Wilde, Spike Milligan and PG Wodehouse.

Grand stuff.

Many newly-minted directors are temped to try daring, novel stuff, and so does George Clooney. But instead of looking pretentious and inexperienced, he got himself a difficult Charlie Kaufman script and proceeded to plan every scene with extreme care. In the end he pulls off a superb film.

With no special effects, other than in-camera trickery (like placing Sam Rockwell on a turntable to switch him from bathroom to boardroom), Clooney achieves one stunner after another. This is film-making at its most serious, most entertaining, most artful and most inspiring.

Sam Rockwell plays TV-show-host-and-secret-agent Chuck Barris wonderfully. Chuck (on whose "unauthorised autobiography" this is based) must be pleased. It's an unusual and challenging role, but Rockwell seems eerily comfortable in the skin of Barris. Surrounding him is an all-star cast and some wonderful cameos. (Look out for Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, hilariously disguised as loser bachelors, on the set of the Dating Game.)

Everything just works. From the sharp-witted humour and amazing plot (one asks: could this possibly be true?), to the more clever or subtle jokes (Barris hailed as "hitman" by his TV colleagues; the reference to Oswald and Ruby and the jamming gun), to the use of colour (much shot with infrared), to the trickery with the sets, to the interesting framing and lighting, to the imaginative wardrobe... Clooney assembled an excellent crew.

Since "O brother where art thou?" I've been a fan of Clooney as an actor. I'm now an even bigger fan of him as a director.

As a debut, this sets a satisfyingly high bar for future Clooney films.