Highly Overrated But Still Good

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"The Optimists" was a box office disaster when it was released to theaters in 1973, and has all but been forgotten since despite the presence of Peter Sellers. It's a real shame, because it is an absolutely charming movie. Sellers gives an excellent lead performance, making you believe this a man who is well travelled and a little tired and frustrated, but still goes on despite the circumstances. But the child performers who play the kids that befriend Sellers' character also deserve kudos - they are absolutely convincing and their performances don't feel the least bit forced. Director Anthony Simmons (who also co-wrote the screenplay based on his book) avoids a polished look and feel, and really captures the poor side of London and its various residents in a way that makes it feel absolutely real. The story is somewhat meandering, but has so much charm that you will follow it all the way to the end. And the Lionel Bart songs, including the wonderful "Sometimes" are the icing on the cake. If I have a complaint, it's that the British accents are sometimes very hard to make out, though fortunately that's only an occasional problem.

The old VHS tape had dismal picture quality, but the sound was quite good enough to understand the dialog. The DVD is the reverse: the picture quality is relatively excellent, but the dialog is nearly unintelligible. The idiot who re-recorded the sound for the DVD must be the same one that destroyed the sound for The Importance of Being Earnest and Waltz of the Toreadors. I wish I could synchronize the DVD with the VHS to get the best of each. This is such a wonderful film, a favorite. How sad that friends and family can't share my enthusiasm because of the struggle to understand what's being said. Nevertheless, I recommend it and insist it's worth the trouble. The film transports me to the time and place, and gives my emotions some healthy exercise. Try taking the journey from sadness and frustration to hopefulness and joy, with a fascinating view of the London of 40 years ago and a sensitive portrayal by Peter Sellers, one of his best.

I have seen this film a couple of times over the years and even though it is a little maudlin (most films with dogs and kids are) and, possibly, naive, it is very entertaining. Sellers does what I consider to be one of his best performances - up there with his rogue friend Terry Thomas in Tom Thumb. But being a Keaton fan it would have been wonderful to see him in the role with all his years of vaudeville and film experience. Can you believe young kids wandering the streets and befriending an old man? I wonder if PC would allow this kind of thing to be produced today... It has no pretensions, just good story telling. Well worth a watch without deep analysis.

"Sometimes it wasn't half as bad as all that, sometimes" Excellent Lionel Bart score adds to new style Peter Sellers, that of serious actor as in Being There. Superb London locations add to moral tale. Ex Vaudevillian Peter Sellers befriends two kids and begins to believe in life again and encourages the two kids from broken home to be more optimistic about life. A truly compassionate film that says despite your circumstances that there will always be someone who cares.