With a cast of characters that reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood, Director Peter Bogdanovich has turned Noises Off, a successful Broadway play of the same name, into the most completely entertaining movie I've watched in the past fourteen years. Bogdanovich points his camera into all the nuances of human interaction characterized by a captive, yet dysfunctional group.

Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, and Nicolette Sheridan are but a few of the characters of this uproariously sexy comedy, which looks at a group of totally inept stage actors rehearsing a play bound for Broadway. The first half of the movie shows what happens on the lavish, two-story English cottage set from the audience perspective. We hear the antics that go on behind the scenes--crashes, loud voices, and general mayhem--but not until later do we get to see the chaos resulting from the dramas within dramas that befall our hapless cast.

An English playwright (Reeve), who has been out of the country avoiding the English version of the IRS, and his wife (Marilu Henner) quietly return home not realizing their house is already occupied by the housekeeper (Burnett), and a couple (Ritter and Sheridan) seeking a place for a quiet assignation. Throw in a bungling burglar (Elliott) and a stage hand cum understudy cum jack-of-all-trades (Mark Linn-Baker) and the laughs escalate until you need to pause for a potty break before you have an accident.

Caine is brilliant as the director of this misfit cast as he pleads, cajoles, threatens, and in some cases stoops to their level to get this show to Broadway.

the sheer fun of watching this movie.

Great humor is precision timing delivered by a master of the craft. And this show has many masters.

My mouth watered looking at the set in this movie. A complex looking set at first glance, it reveals its simplicity as each member of the cast cavorts across the stage using "doors that should open when they open, and close when they should close." The timing and the set work as one to create a spectacle that one can't help but enjoy.

As the owner of a woodworking shop, I've had the opportunity to build more than 25 sets for the various performances of our local and very active community theater group. I've seen two live stage productions of this show, and in both cases yearned for the chance to build such a set.

Nothing. Period.

alive.

I first saw it at a cast party for the first live performance of our fledgling Fine Arts group fourteen years ago; it quickly became a staple at subsequent cast parties and for our family. Even today when our family gets together, certain dialogue passages are quick to rear their hilarious heads as the kids go back and forth for some time.

meshed perfectly together.

Like the six degrees of separation, everyone has to be a fan of someone in this cast. Take Denholm Elliott, for instance. Who can forget his memorable performance in ... uh, what was the name of that show? Oh, never mind. As Selsden, he's the ultimate over-the-hill lush of an actor, and the guy you actually root for as he tries to find that ever elusive drink.

Or, John Ritter, as a solicitor assigned to oversee the house while the owners are away, whose colorful language single-handedly commands the PG-13 rating. Notwithstanding the fact that John's character never finishes a line in the entire movie, one can't help but admire his panache as he drives the cast and director bonkers with his on-stage and behind-the-scenes tomfoolery.

Obviously, I could go on about each and every member of this august cast.

From the machine-gun dialogue delivered with the precision of a hole-in-one to the witty repartee among the characters to the constant entrances and exits, there are moments galore that you and your family will talk about long after the credits have finished.

It's an awesome movie.

Speaking to Reeve's rather dimwitted character about his motivation for a particular movement, director Caine poses a thought that many of us might have considered at one time or another.

"I don't know why the author came into this business in the first place."

While our motivations may be suspect at one time or another, this show is sure to take your mind off any problems you might have. Put this in your DVD player and for the next 90 minutes, your mind and your funny-bone belong to the great masters of comedy.

This is one movie you have to see.

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Created Jun 11, 2010 at 5:15pm • Submit your own review...