Shooting Elizabeth

Jeff Goldblum in the role he was born to play: Howard Pigeon. Scheming to escape from his unhappy marriage and talking animatedly to himself, Goldblum's delivery of stuttering gesticulation is perfect, eerily resonant of Mamet's use of repetition and rhythmic logic. Pigeon is blissfully unaware of his impending doom as he plots and seethes. Mimi Rodgers is brilliant as his wife and foil Elizabeth Pigeon. The film is strangely set in Spain, with much of it shot along the Spanish coast and in the mountains. Well much of the film follows the finest abusurdist traditions, the ending brings a surprising amount of emotional weight. Worth seeing for Goldblum's performance alone (a strange idea indeed).

This movie was made in 1992, stars Jeff Goldblum and Mimi Rogers, the script is very witty, almost pushing the brink of dark comedy. This is definitely a dialog heavy comedy with smart written all through it. It moves at a wonderful little pace, it almost feels like watching a live stage play, cinematography is simplistic and perfect giving great focus on the actors and letting their performance shine rather than spif it up with drastic camera angles and dramatic lighting. I find many of the lines wonderfully executed with Goldblum's craft, the kind you feel like quoting with friends later on. Commonly unheard of from people i've polled, but highly recommended.

Shooting Elizabeth is a black comedy that unfortunately isn't very funny and not that dark. Goldblum plays the same hypochondriacal character he does in every movie, Mimi Rogers is passable, and the detective is a lame attempt at an Inspector Clouseau. Apart from that, its fine!

...Well, I think it's clever, anyway: "'Shooting Elizabeth' is a 28-minute high-speed farce crammed into 92 minutes."

I am a rather devout fan of Goldblum and usually forgive some of the quirkier film choices of the '80s and early '90s ('Vibes', 'The Tall Guy', 'Mr Frost' was good, 'Framed'); and I do usually enjoy Rogers. But this...this is just...even I had to shake my head a little. It has its moments, but they are few and far between.

This may be good for a rainy Sunday afternoon, but you may find yourself wanting to finish the job yourself so you can go on to more interesting fare.

My vote: 3 out of 10 stars.

I found the film delightfully funny. I fell in love with Goldblum's style and felt that other roles (e.g. the Fly, the horrible Jurassic Park and the farcical Independence day, and one really bad film whose name I don't recall) never quite matched this one for allowing him to showcase his humor. (the fact that he could even give a whisper of that style to the Fly--a movie tragic enough to provide a difficult medium for any humor--is much to his credit as a naturally funny person). I highly recommend it.