BNester

This film might have been a trendsetter when it was released, but it is now quite dated. Parts of it are still genuinely funny, but most of the attempts at humour fall flat. The 'quirky' characters that Gable and Colbert run into along the way are as believable as circus clowns. The plot is implausible. The rich cynics who are set up to be the bad guys are overdone. Everything seems over-the-top. It's like watching commedia dell'arte with dialogue.

Watch it for historical interest. If you're in the right mood, you might find it charming.

A mostly feel-good movie which adds up to sentimental tosh. Reasonably well-made and watchable. Steve Coogan is believable as a footloose English teacher in a posh school in Argentina at the beginning of the military junta. A penguin imprints upon him. The other main actor, Jonathan Pryce, plays a caricature, not a character. He does it adequately.

The scenes are stolen by the penguin. His name is not listed in the credits, but he holds the whole unlikely project together.

A crime caper that takes place in Montreal, "The Fall of the American Empire" is well-paced and amusing. There is a gory murder near the beginning, and a nasty torture scene in the middle, so it's not all fun and games; but on the whole it's a feel-good movie, and leaves you smiling.

An intellectual delivery driver teams up with a high-priced hooker to try and do some good with a windfall of cash that has come their way, while avoiding crime bosses and the police.

The plot is unlikely, the chemistry between the two main characters is hardly believable, but it's still fun to watch. There are many beautiful shots of Montreal at its most glorious. The dialogue is in Quebec French, which sounds quite different from the European variety.

It loses a star in my rating because of a totally unnecessary reference to the Holocaust. Mentioning the Holocaust is supposed to add gravity and seriousness to the scene, I guess, but it doesn't. Instead, it just trivializes and cheapens the Holocaust, and should be avoided.