What ho! The most recent box-office smash of a comedy is "Monty Python's Life Of Brian," re-igniting their popularity (as well as controversy).
In steps good ol' Hollywood, trying to cash in with a quickie ripoff. Taking the place of the Pythons is fellow Brit, Dudley Moore. Another comic masterpiece on the order of "Brian"? Not so fast.
Dudley Moore possesses none of the traits I find exemplary in British comedians. He lacks the sadism of Rowan Atkinson and the Monty Python gang; he doesn't have the lasciviousness of Benny Hill; he hasn't the surrealism of Peter Sellers and his fellow Goons, or the all-out silliness of the "Are You Being Served?" bunch. What Moore does have is a certain self-effacing charm that sometimes (or not) holds him in good stead as a leading man.
Does he make a good leading man to girlfriend Laraine Newman in the present pic? (Speaking of which—what happened to her?) Well, any positive answer rises or falls on the weakness of the material they have to work with. If this film deserves any plaudits at all, it's for gathering together such a cavalcade of great comedic talents. But they're shamefully wasted on a weak story.
The plot, such as it is, centers on an unearthed scroll representing the Book of Herschel (Moore), a relative to Moses. In flashback, Herschel's infancy parallels Moses', being sent up the river in a basket and all that jazz. (Old Testament, not New. We must be PC, right?) Dom DeLuise, Richard Pryor, Paul Sand, James Coco, Jack Gilford, John Ritter, Madeline Kahn, even tossing in John Houseman for a touch of class ..and what do they amount to here? Corny lines, a contrived story that's too contrived even for a comedy, and a motley staff of writers desperately trying to rouse a laugh from the apathetic audience.
As stated above, the extra star I gave it's just for the impressive cast.
In steps good ol' Hollywood, trying to cash in with a quickie ripoff. Taking the place of the Pythons is fellow Brit, Dudley Moore. Another comic masterpiece on the order of "Brian"? Not so fast.
Dudley Moore possesses none of the traits I find exemplary in British comedians. He lacks the sadism of Rowan Atkinson and the Monty Python gang; he doesn't have the lasciviousness of Benny Hill; he hasn't the surrealism of Peter Sellers and his fellow Goons, or the all-out silliness of the "Are You Being Served?" bunch. What Moore does have is a certain self-effacing charm that sometimes (or not) holds him in good stead as a leading man.
Does he make a good leading man to girlfriend Laraine Newman in the present pic? (Speaking of which—what happened to her?) Well, any positive answer rises or falls on the weakness of the material they have to work with. If this film deserves any plaudits at all, it's for gathering together such a cavalcade of great comedic talents. But they're shamefully wasted on a weak story.
The plot, such as it is, centers on an unearthed scroll representing the Book of Herschel (Moore), a relative to Moses. In flashback, Herschel's infancy parallels Moses', being sent up the river in a basket and all that jazz. (Old Testament, not New. We must be PC, right?) Dom DeLuise, Richard Pryor, Paul Sand, James Coco, Jack Gilford, John Ritter, Madeline Kahn, even tossing in John Houseman for a touch of class ..and what do they amount to here? Corny lines, a contrived story that's too contrived even for a comedy, and a motley staff of writers desperately trying to rouse a laugh from the apathetic audience.
As stated above, the extra star I gave it's just for the impressive cast.