L'extravagante Madame Pollifax

I was excited to see a movie rendition of this charming mystery series. And having Angela Lansbury as the delightful Mrs P. really upped my anticipation. Then I watched it. Mrs Lansbury was a good choice for the main character, and that was about it. The entire show made me wonder if the screen writer had read only bits and pieces of several stories, because that was how the movie played.

This book series deserves attention on the individual books. The situations Mrs Pollifax gets herslf into, and out of, are plenty interesting, full of danger, ingenuity, and intrique, and lend themselves to great "TV movie" telling. I am sorry this show is out there, because people may not read the books after this awful movie. Let's hope Anglea Lansbury can be persuaded to do her again, maybe even produce the shows herself.

I've been inspired by this film for 17 years now, and I keep going back to watch it. It also motivated me to read most of the books in the Mrs. Polifax series, and when I did, I learned that this film was a combination of plots from two different books. Angela Lansbury provided another stunning, high-quality performance as Mrs. Polifax, in a more edgy and modern context than in her role as Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote. However, Mrs. Polifax is in keeping with Angela Lansbury's persona as a strong and independent female character in search of justice and truth, though this time in a world of spies with competing ambitions and international intrigue. I'm just disappointed that this film didn't turn into a longer series based on the books.

They started out with a great idea -- making the beloved Mrs. P. into a movie -- but went about it half-heartedly. Angela Lansbury did a decent job, but otherwise the casting left a lot to be desired. They used most of the good characters from all the other books, leaving no room for more shows (which, under the circumstances was probably a good thing).

Good Sunday afternoon entertainment but not a classic movie in any sense of the word LOL!.

Takes itself, and the actors take themselves just enough tongue in cheek, and with just enough comedy.

Some of the accents are truly (deliberately?) chronically bad!

Some clever unique dramatic content.

(e.g. Love the way CIA bosses conversation with his deputy was split and misunderstood as they climbed the stairs and his deputy did not understand).

Relax and watch it.

Ed Bishopand plays very straight and well while Angela Lansberry also carries the movie well... Easy to follow the characters. Not read the book which is apparemtly very different. The rewrite seems very creditable to me!

Although it has been a while since I seen this flick I truly enjoyed it enough to rate it even now with a 10! The story was well written and the characters were interesting. I could definitely see this movie turning into a series, or more movies that would air from time to time. The interaction between Angela Lansbury and Thomas Ian Griffith was perfect and made you want to see their characters interact more. They both played their parts well and were believable. I hope it airs again, or becomes available to purchase on video. I'd add it to my movie collection. I would also definitely recommend this film to others.