Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora

If you're a fan of BBC's Miranda or The Vicar of Dibley then there's a good chance you'll enjoy Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora, which also features an unattractive accident-prone lead character, the majority of the film's gags involving him falling over or hitting his head.

Paolo Villaggio plays the evil Dr. Jekyll, who is employed by multinational conglomerate PANTAC to maximise profit and power at the expense of pollution. When PANTAC's fertiliser FP-1 is banned due to unwarranted side effects, Jekyll comes up with the dastardly plan of using the chemical to produce chewing gum instead. He is aided in his task by his wicked secretary Barbara Wimply (played by voluptuous giallo babe Edwige Fenech), and a group of thugs led by the ruthless Pretorius (peplum star Gordon Mitchell).

However, after putting the wheels in motion, Jekyll encounters his famous grandfather who reveals the secret of his personality-altering concoction and its antidote. Believing that it will make him even more despicable, Jekyll drinks a glass of the formula, but turns into the effeminate, good-natured Mr. Hyde, who tries to sabotage Jekyll's scheme.

Consisting of pathetic slapstick, and un-PC jokes about Hyde's apparent gay persona, this lamentable Italian comedy will only appeal to fans of extremely unsophisticated humour, or admirers of Edwige Fenech, who is absolutely ravishing: not only does she get to vamp it up as sexy Babs, but she also downs Jekyll's formula and transforms into an angelic blonde (both shed their clothes, giving Fenech fans much to enjoy).

2/10 for Fenech. Without her, I would have found the film totally unbearable.