Méli-mélo à Venise

This comedy film is better than most, even though it wasn't successful and the critics hated it.

It's set in Venice and involves farcical mix-ups that are caused by three very different men being confused with each other - because their surnames sound similar and they have the same initial.

Three men; Orton, Horton and Lawton find themselves in unorthodox situations due to the misunderstanding of a bellboy.

This farcical comedy is right on the mark. Clever misunderstandings arise and they're all well played out, with a willing cast who aim to please. Dudley Moore is especially appealing here in one of his last screen roles. Bronson Pinchot is also a riot as the world's worst bellboy.

The script is tight, I felt it could have been even longer, some plot holes but who cares? It's very funny all the way. Using beautiful scenery from lovely Venice, the film gets even more of an appeal. I can't see how one can dislike a film like this.

Take 3 Englishmen -

1. Michael Horton (a philanderer indulging in a surreptitious tryst) 2. Mike Lawton (a hit man assigned to rub out an Italian mob boss) 3. Melvin Orton (a mousey junior manager on a property-buying assignment for his overbearing boss)

and put them all in the same Venetian hotel with a bellhop who has great difficulty with the English language, and you have what promises to be a raucously funny good time, and 'Blame it on the Bellboy' delivers on the promise. This rousing comedy of confused identities comes right out of the tradition of the great British Ealing Studios film comedies of the late 50's and 60's (the same tradition 'A Fish Called Wanda' purported to come from; I found this movie a LOT funnier).

My only complaint is that some of the grim scenes of mob violence would be more at home in the 'Lethal Weapon' series; in a farce like this they seem jarringly out of place. However, beautiful Patsy Kensit's presence more than compensates for this minor complaint (she was the blonde secretary in Lethal Weapon 2, remember?).

On the whole, an A++ recommendation

Short fun in a classic mixup farce format. Bryan Brown, Richard Griffiths, and Dudley Moore all converge on Venice for an assignation. The linguistically challenged bellboy (Bronson Pinchot) mixes up the messages they're to receive. And we're off.

Andreas Katsulas and his crew are excellent and perhaps the comedic high point. Patsy Kensit is always there to feast your eyes on. Alison Steadman is great in her supporting role.

It's interesting how Merk Herman 'weaves' the three story lines together - and it's not just editing. It's a cute touch.

And of course there is 'Venezia' in one of the leading roles as well. It's one hour twenty eight minutes only but it's fun.

It didn't feel like that at the time but 1992 was now thirty years ago. The fact that Dudley Moore has been dead for over twenty years, the size of his TV remote and Trevor Jones' tiresome trumpet score all attest to that fact.

This represented the final whimper of Moore's film career as a variety of characters engage in an extremely unfunny chase around Venice. The plot is one of those stupid farces based on misunderstandings; in the title role Bronson Pinchot is as amusing as ringworm, but at least the cast and crew got an expenses paid holiday in sunny Italy.

Moore is almost invisible in his own film, the best performance easily being given by Penelope Wilton as a lonelyheart who reads Mickey Spillane, lets her hair down, discovers an affinity with firearms and helps Bryan Brown realise his ambition of settling down and opening a flower shop in Huddersfield. The scenes early on (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) were he accidentally shoots two local birds while trying to take out Ms Wilton earns the film an extra point.