A Bunch of Amateurs

there's the feeling that this film was designed and constructed by a committee out of focus-group friendly but disconnected components; they then seemingly accidentally hired some great talent to do some of the work. The script is often funny and sharp, but frequently slumps into sentimentality. A lot of the acting is very good, but Burt Reynolds is mostly helpless: he can't act the part he has been given except for some of the calmer domestic comedy. Acting the part of an actor acting King Lear? No, he's lost. Most things are done very well, the photography and direction are fine and the music only really grates during the prolonged sentimental guff that spoils the flow of the film particularly in the middle and at the end. It's worth watching for some fine comic acting from the English part of the cast, and for some very professional filmmaking too. It's worth fast forwarding through some of the sentiment, and some of the American acting too.

A very easy comedy around a King Lear representation by a theater of amateurs. A faded American film star and his adventures in a Stratdford of England.

A ball of cliches , easy humor and fake crisis. Short, in some measure, a Hallmark.

But half of glass is not empty. The admirable cast, their nice work, the kiss of Imelda Staunton and Burt Reynolds, a Burt Reinolds reminding, in few scenes, Sir Sean Connery and, sure, Derek Jacobi just admirable, the relation children parents and nice job of Bond are motives to see this film, not great, not impressive but nice.

Last DVD on the comedy shelf, it was either this or "18-year old virgin" or many things that weren't quite American Pie with Eugene Levy. This won, by default, and was actually a pretty decent laugh. Burt was a little unintelligible but the British cast all hit the spot and the scenery played its part. A little bit Local Hero meets Shakespeare in Love, sit back on a slow evening and let the film entertain you. It's all fairly predictable in pace but the writing is good and delivery effective. What's more important is something like this got made and provides an alternative to all those Eugene Levy movies! No offence, Mr. Levy

The film has a lot of nonsensical points, but it's so predictable that you don't even notice. You just know what's going to happen because they're pantomiming a standard drama that is pantomiming real life badly throughout all of it.

One strong point about it is that it manages to be genuinely funny despite its predictability. I think it's from the excessively dramatic directing. It's about characters doing a drama but I think a bit of the irony is the fact that many of theme seem to have more dramatic reactions to daily problems than the characters in a play would.

A performance of King Lear is at the centre of it all and they pretend like it's related by having the subplot of Reynolds' daughter squabbling with him, but it's really not related to Lear in the least.

It's a pleasant and modestly funny watch, but don't expect anything further from it.

Honourable Mentions: Wild Child (2008). A spoiled US girl goes to England. It wasn't enough for the plot to have extremely predictable mechanics, now the very plot is recycled to the extent that all this horde of similar movies are technically remakes of each other.

After reading some of the other reviews I wonder what you expect from a nice little English movie. Burt Reynolds was great, but Imelda Staunton was exceptional. She was hilarious in all her scenes and we laughed out loud. It's very British set in a very British setting.

If you liked Calendar Girls you'll like this. It's not great art, just great entertainment with a really good British cast, and an ageing but nevertheless very entertaining Burt Reynolds. Burt Reynolds who I must admit I did not think could act was quite good throughout and delivered his Shakespeare well. If there was one criticism it would be the scenes in the US were not brilliantly shot