And Guest House Paradiso has more in common with McQueen's work than
first meets the eye; it's been done before, it's a gag that's drawn out for
far too long and there was very little by way of plot.
This was really an extended episode of the television series, Bottom,
and had the whole film been condensed into a thirty minute slot it would have
been far funnier and possibly more enjoyable.
As it was, the skits ran on for too long, there was too much padding and there
wasn't really much in the way of humour; most jokes were predictable and simply
not that funny.
There were some quite good moments but not enough to rescue it and it's sad
to recollect that the funniest moment was Mayall getting his testicles crushed
in a pair of nut crackers. Yawn, it's been seen before.
Although this was never going to be cerebral comedy it never really held its
own in the slapstick stakes either. Faintly amusing at times and mildly
irritating at others, it was about as exciting as watching a Tom and
Jerry episode you've seen far too many times.
Rik Mayall makes a welcome comeback after a quad bike accident nearly
cost him his life but it's a shame that his return couldn't have been
celebrated with something a little more potent.
Both Mayall and Ade Edmonson are clearly capable but they seemed reluctant to
let the mayhem out of the bag except in the most restrained way.
Edmonson, at times, looked completely lost, perhaps himself disillusioned with
what he was doing, his character having played out his best lines and scenes
sometime in the past.
Mayall was his best, but hardly brilliant, whilst dishing out the violence but
seemed to be confused playing the Basil Fawlty role whilst trying to
avoid obvious emulation.
The closing vomit scenes at the end of the film were simply gratuitous,
totally unfunny and rather sickening. Again, this was overplayed and seemed to
be included more for shock value than for humorous content.
By this time we hardly cared. It was hard not to have become bored and it
looked like the film had run out of steam and the director was clutching at
straws to wind it up in any way possible.
For die-hard, Bottom fans this may be a must see, many in the
audience seemed to really enjoy it. But it was hard to tell if they were
really touched by the film or simply responding, pavlovic like, to gags
they could see coming a mile away or out of loyalty to a team which has, in
the past, offered new, different and original comedy.
Unfortunately Guest House Paradiso offered nothing new or original. In
short, it was rather lame and uninteresting. It is perhaps time for Mayall and
Edmonson to take their combined skills down a new comedy path.
