All the Queen's Men

Matt LeBlanc leads a commando squad into Nazi Germany to steal a copy of the enigma machine. Co-starring Eddie "I'm an action transvestite" Izzard this was a long time coming to the US. I have no idea if it ever got a theatrical release, but I'm sure it it did it lost money. this isn't to say the movie is bad, its not really, its just too run of the mill, guys in dresses aside. What can I say this is a situation ripe with comedy that doesn't really hit enough comedic moments. To be sure the action is fine and the film making is good, the problem is its so by the numbers that I could wander in and out while it was on and not feel I was missing something. Its like Matt LeBlanc's character who almost completes every mission he's on, its almost a good movie, thats almost funny. Put downs aside its worth a look if you like World War 2 movies, especially ones that are more than a bit off beat (even while remaining completely run of the mill). That should confuse you completely.

Look, I know we're all different, but this poor movie's gotten a heck of a bashing all over the net -- and it doesn't really deserve it.

Yes, the first ten minutes are slow. They're funny, but they're slow. And yes, the movie has a different tempo than most audiences are used to.

But Matt LeBlanc is wonderful as "Agent Almost", the guy who tries with all his studly spy-boy might, but never quite gets the job done. There's a brilliant sequence 3/4th's of the way through the film where our hero slithers, shimmies, and dodges his secret agent man way around a German town, trying to get some information -- at the same time that his very ragtag group (plus one fiesty librarian) tries their own hand at the spy stuff. Guess who gets the goods?

Floating behind the drag and spy jokes are some striking and raw scenes of war from the point of view of the women and children left behind. They create a rich backdrop, as well giving life to some of the motivation behind the characters' actions.

Give it a chance -- it's a good movie.

This German-Austrian-Hungarian-USA co-production was directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and stars Matt Leblanc. The premise was that British and American agents during the Second World War tried to infiltrate the espionage mechanism in Berlin by disguising themselves in drag, in order to steal a precious Enigma encoding and decoding machine from an all-female factory. That was plausible enough (the image of Leblanc in a frumpy "German lady" dress aside), but I didn't hold much hopes of coming out of the movie satisfied. Well, I was disappointed, but in a good way. This is a breezy, entertaining, light-hearted action flick. How could one not like Udo Kier as a perverted Nazi general? How could one not love Eddie Izzard as the British drag queen who teaches his team the ropes of hair, makeup, and frocks?

Izzard, mostly known as a standup comedian, turned in a bravura performance, starting out with a hilarious rendition of Marlene, and ending with deceptively spirited performance of imperialist German favorites, which completely fooled and kept Izzard's Nazi audience enrapt while the espionage mission climaxed, literally right behind the stage curtains.

This film seems to have been made for American tastes, judging by how much of the humor content is directed toward stereotypes of British fuddy-duddiness and arrogance. It also suffers from a few plot implausibilities. The sixtyish Archie (played by veteran British character actor, James Cosmo) is a beefy, mustachioed walrus of a man who, even after shaving his face, couldn't pass for a woman plausibly no matter if he was all dowdied up in a head scarf and a charwoman's dress. Polyglot math genius Johnno Johnson--played by David Birkin, who some of you might recognize from his role as a "young" Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek:TNG episode where a handful of Enterprise crew are suddenly turned into twelve-year-olds--was sent off on this mission instead of being kept on home turf, where his linguistic and cryptographic abilities would be much more valuable. And finally, the escape sequence at the end requires suspension of disbelief, quite literally.

Still, these flaws seem minor when compared to the overall entertainment value of the movie. Izzard's performance as a whole, Cosmo's endearing takes as a "grandmother" to a German war orphan, and Leblanc's hilarious seduction of Kier highlight an overall very enjoyable 105 minutes.

With Matt LeBlanc in the title role, I'm afraid that I feared the worst as there is certainly a compelling reason for him not appearing in many feature films; one can certainly point a camera at him, but I can't understand why someone would point a microphone at him.

However, his supporting cast certainly props him up well. Eddie Izzard in particular. And Nicolette Krebitz is certainly a delight to look at and someone who seems to be able to act.

In general, this film can't decide what it is. Comedy? Drama? Espionage? There's certainly not a lot of comedy outside of the guys wearing dresses. Then again, Berlin in the dying days of WW2 probably wasn't a whole lot of laughs.

The voice-over/explanation before the film even begins is worthless and should be deleted from all future prints. Yet while the producers seem to want to force this down our throats, they wouldn't spring for sub-titles during the German portions of the film.

The writing is nothing to salute and from people with less-than-noteworthy careers. The directing by Ruzowitzky is noteworthy only in it's lack of noteworthiness. Pretty static and boring.

Not a film to run screaming from, but I wouldn't recommend seeking it out, either.

I've been an Eddie Izzard fan for quite a long time (As has the friend I watched this film with) and we approached it from that stand point. In fact as we picked it we couldn't help but recite "it's the 131st transvestite brigade, parachuting behind enemy line with fabulous make-up and a fabulous gun." Taking it as that style of campy send up of war we found it rather funny, of course it was cheesy and full of plot holes, but that was part of the appeal. "I have to get my mousy-kins!" I mean if this film wasn't laughing at itself it should have been. Yes Eddie turns in a brilliant performance from an emotional stand point as well, as does David Birkin, but their performances add to the humour not over shadow it. Yes from the stand point of making the world a better place this film did not accomplish a single blow for understanding, but not everything has to be a statement for the cause. Some things are allowed to be funny for humour's sake, and those of us who get that the stereotypically wooden characters are there to make a point find them all the more funny. Give it a try.