Ooh... You Are Awful

Just before he died Dick Emery in a television interview lamented his forays into film were not successful, commercially and critically and it was now too late.

Emery died several months later. Ohh... You are Awful is now a rare chance to see Dick Emery's comic creations as his shows are so rarely repeated.

This is a saucy caper comedy with Emery playing chirpy con man Charlie Tully who is always on a swindle which includes persuading the son of a wealthy Italian family that marriage to Princess Anne is available at a price or a dowry.

With the aid of his womanising friend Ronald Fraser they swindled £500,000 out of the Italians who have hotfooted to the Mafia for revenge.

Charlie gets arrested at the Airport as he tries to sell a bulldog to some American tourists when he meets up with Fraser after his release from prison all he knows that Fraser deposited the money in a Swiss bank account before the Mafia henchmen knock Fraser off.

Charlie needs to track down some tattoos on some ladies Fraser has had in recent months which is actually on their rear and will tell Charlie the actual bank and account number. As he tries to track down the ladies he also falls foul of a local cockney gangster.

Emery gets to play his famous comedy characters such as Mandy and Lampwick during his quest.

For non Emery fans this would just be a dated British comedy with plenty of Carry On innuendo. Some of it really feels icky. Ronald Fraser looks revolting with all those poor tattoos supposedly with the names and phone numbers of his conquests.

Only in the mind of a desperate casting agent would Fraser ever be regarded as a ladies man. Derren Nesbitt who plays the cockney gangster would had been more suitable in that role.

Emery is having a hoot playing his comedy characters but really it is not funny enough despite a decent story.

I love Dick Emery's TV shows , but this is nowhere near the same quality.

It does start well, but soon runs out of steam, and the fact some of his regular characters are missing in action doesn't help.

Worth a one time watch, but it isn't something most people will find themselves going back to.

Ooh... You Are Awful, but I like you! This was the catchphrase of the comedian Dick Emery. Emery became a household name in 1960s/70s British light entertainment. There was a time when the likes of Emery and Mike Yarwood seemed to constantly be on the radio or television, doing their thing. Chances are that if you were watching, listening and enjoying back then, then there's a good chance you will like this film outing for Emery.

Plot involves a con-man caper scenario where Emery plays Charlie Tully, who along with his side-kick Reggie Peek (Ronald Fraser), manages to con half a million pounds out of two Italians. But circumstances lead to Charlie doing a short stint in jail and after Reggie is killed, Charlie has to locate the bank account number where Reggie stashed the cash. The number, as it transpires, has been tattooed over the derrières of four beauties once involved with Reggie. Cue Charlie having to use his cunning number of disguises to reveal the special code. But others are on his tail as well...

It's as corny as it sounds, a little bit of innuendo here and there, some nudity and cheeky asides, while Emery gets to run through his various characters in search of the golden bottoms! It's a hard sell to anyone not familiar with the work of Emery and the era of British film it was made in, but it's a fun enough romp, even if it's instantly forgettable once over. 6/10

Just watching this on Talking Pictures TV Channel, its just my cuppa char as I have always loved Dick Emery.

The movie plot is totally inconsequential and only really serves as a vehicle, for some of Dick Emery's most famous and for me favourite characters.

It's absolutely yonks since I've seen his show on the box or him for that matter, it was one of my favourite TV comedies.

Of course now it is surprising that any TV channels will bother to screen it all, and the Channel even announced a Disclaimer before the film started. 'Some of the films scenes could cause offence, to modern audiences' or some such tosh was announced. Presumably to warn current movie goers of the perils of viewing, let alone heaven forfend actually enjoying a 1970's comedy film.

Charlie Tully and Reggie Peek are confidence tricksters who pull off a big score when they con a rich Italian family out of half a million pounds by pretending to arrange a meeting with the Royal family. At the airport, Charlie can't resist conning a couple of tourists out of £200 but gets caught in the act. While Reggie flees the country with the cash, Charlie gets six months. Reggie puts the money in a Swiss account but, before he can tell Charlie the details, he is killed. Charlie finds that Reggie has tattooed clues on the asses of four girls he slept with in the past few months - and sets off to find them.

With the thinnest of plots (but the most complicated set up) this film allows Emery to wheel out the characters he was famous for in an uniquely British `romp' with heavy smut and innuendo. Needless to say it isn't very clever or funny and it probably requires you to be a fan of Emery's (and even then.). The story is not important but it is way too elaborate for a series of impressions and jokes revolving around girls' *rses! The fact that Charlie has several groups of criminals after him is too complicated considering it is only used to set up a few gags with Charlie's unofficial minders.

I have never been a big fan of Emery - he was before my time and his brand of impressions and innuendo have been done better by others; if you were looking back for an example you likely wouldn't look to him. He does have some talent but the material isn't very sharp and I just wasn't laughing. Ronald Fraser is amusing even if his tattoos looks like a child has put them on with a felt tip pen and the rest of the cast just mug around. I know this film is over 30 years old and body shapes have changed (in terms of what is the media's ideal) but, for a film that focuses on women's bums, it would have been nice if more than 1 of the four actually had a cute one!

Overall this is a very unfunny film that will only appeal to fans of Emery and even then I wonder how good they would think this is. The plot is convoluted for such a silly film and the majority of the supposed laughs are drawn from smut and innuendo that didn't make me laugh.