Sadly Over-hyped

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I have to give credit to Andie McDowell and John Malkovich, American citizens, who are living it up in the lapse of luxury in London, England. They are living beyond their means and owe plenty of money to their creditors especially the hotel. Anyway, Tina has a statue which is worth thousands but doesn't protect it very well. It lays about in their hotel suite. When a dead chambermaid take the statue, Tina and her partner's plan to stage a fake robbery to collect the insurance gets thwarted. They don't trust each other when it comes to the statue. While the film is fine, it's not great but bearable and almost forgettable. The cast does the best with a weak script. I enjoy the London locales. The girl who played the chambermaid does a fantastic and believable job in creating sympathy. She lives with her brother in a small flat in London, England. Getting the statue doesn't buy happiness for anybody involved.

Or should I say, "my cup of tea", because the major turn-off of this movie is its too-much British character. You can tell easily that's a production from BBC: slow, conservative (the rich & the poor), uptight, colors lavished, intemporal (you can't pinpoint the time from the scenes or the locations: it can happen now or in 1950 or in 1850.....) Now, the story is irrelevant: what's the matter with rich / spoiled / idle people whose only worry is their money ? A good movie is at least for me, one from I can find inspiration for my life, and this one gives me nothing... There isn't humor, or irony only a cold examination of the facts.The only survivor is the deaf character, for whom the actress gives a strong performance: without any words, you know what are precisely her feelings....

This movie disappointed me. It's billed as a 'low key comedy', but ends up being so low key, you wonder (with the exception of a couple of scenes) where the comedy is. Most of my disappointment, however, stems from the script - aside from the chambermaid and her brother, I simply did not care what happened to the characters. The juxtaposition of the two ways of life was excellent - but it's too obvious where the scriptwriter's sympathies lie.

a smart, little chekhovian drama about greed and infidelity. malkovich and mcdowell play themselves: a cold, calculating bastard and a spoiled, falsely naive princess. a great little film that deserves to be mentioned more often.