User reviews

Why did this receive such a low rating? This is a delightfully funny farce that had me on the floor. It's so hilarious! It goes through with its intention of being a fast-paced, old-fashioned farce mixed with the good ol' comedy of errors. The cast is superb. I only wish Dudley Moore could've been given a funnier part - this is definitely one of his more thankless roles. Unfortunately, this was one of his last roles, if not the last. But he was still an incredible comic actor and he will surely be missed. Richard Griffiths, who I remember as the cripple in "Naked Gun 2 1/2," is extremely funny. Bryan Brown plays it straight as a bewildered hitman, and does a fantastic job. I also liked that woman who played his eventual love interest - she has some very funny scenes. And man-oh-man is Patsy Kensit a hottie or what?!!!

The script is contrived and most of the gags are forced, but I give the writer/director an "E" for effort. It's hard to pull off a wacky farce like this with great precision. It was done excellently in "Ruthless People," but not every farce can be like "Ruthless People." I said it before and I'll say it again, the sense of humor don't lie. If I'm roaring with laughter, obviously the film did its job. And I was roaring all right!

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Three men; Orton, Horton and Lawton find themselves in unorthodox situations due to the misunderstanding of a bellboy.

This farcical comedy is right on the mark. Clever misunderstandings arise and they're all well played out, with a willing cast who aim to please. Dudley Moore is especially appealing here in one of his last screen roles. Bronson Pinchot is also a riot as the world's worst bellboy.

The script is tight, I felt it could have been even longer, some plot holes but who cares? It's very funny all the way. Using beautiful scenery from lovely Venice, the film gets even more of an appeal. I can't see how one can dislike a film like this.

Low rent comedy, but still offered a few laughs. Pinchot seems to be typecast in this sort of role as the stupid, confused foreigner. The chief of the thugs is also another guy we see playing the insane killer a lot, but both players do their jobs well. Overall, I liked this one, it was better than I expected and offered some nice shots of Venice.

Short fun in a classic mixup farce format. Bryan Brown, Richard Griffiths, and Dudley Moore all converge on Venice for an assignation. The linguistically challenged bellboy (Bronson Pinchot) mixes up the messages they're to receive. And we're off.

Andreas Katsulas and his crew are excellent and perhaps the comedic high point. Patsy Kensit is always there to feast your eyes on. Alison Steadman is great in her supporting role.

It's interesting how Merk Herman 'weaves' the three story lines together - and it's not just editing. It's a cute touch.

And of course there is 'Venezia' in one of the leading roles as well. It's one hour twenty eight minutes only but it's fun.

It didn't feel like that at the time but 1992 was now thirty years ago. The fact that Dudley Moore has been dead for over twenty years, the size of his TV remote and Trevor Jones' tiresome trumpet score all attest to that fact.

This represented the final whimper of Moore's film career as a variety of characters engage in an extremely unfunny chase around Venice. The plot is one of those stupid farces based on misunderstandings; in the title role Bronson Pinchot is as amusing as ringworm, but at least the cast and crew got an expenses paid holiday in sunny Italy.

Moore is almost invisible in his own film, the best performance easily being given by Penelope Wilton as a lonelyheart who reads Mickey Spillane, lets her hair down, discovers an affinity with firearms and helps Bryan Brown realise his ambition of settling down and opening a flower shop in Huddersfield. The scenes early on (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) were he accidentally shoots two local birds while trying to take out Ms Wilton earns the film an extra point.

Take 3 Englishmen -

1. Michael Horton (a philanderer indulging in a surreptitious tryst) 2. Mike Lawton (a hit man assigned to rub out an Italian mob boss) 3. Melvin Orton (a mousey junior manager on a property-buying assignment for his overbearing boss)

and put them all in the same Venetian hotel with a bellhop who has great difficulty with the English language, and you have what promises to be a raucously funny good time, and 'Blame it on the Bellboy' delivers on the promise. This rousing comedy of confused identities comes right out of the tradition of the great British Ealing Studios film comedies of the late 50's and 60's (the same tradition 'A Fish Called Wanda' purported to come from; I found this movie a LOT funnier).

My only complaint is that some of the grim scenes of mob violence would be more at home in the 'Lethal Weapon' series; in a farce like this they seem jarringly out of place. However, beautiful Patsy Kensit's presence more than compensates for this minor complaint (she was the blonde secretary in Lethal Weapon 2, remember?).

On the whole, an A++ recommendation

It is no reflection upon the sadly recently departed Dudley Moore, who did some fine work in his career, but this film really is the pits. It's been around a decade since I saw this, but I can still remember getting excited as an 11 year old boy who loved his movies (and still does!) when mum suggested we go to the cinema. I had my own ideas about what I wanted to watch, but the majority of our party voted to take in this. I can still remember all of us sat in a darkened cinema, exchanging looks with each other as the farrago on the screen went from bad to worse. The screen was near packed, but everybody sat in silence as this supposed 'comedy' painfully ran itself out. Everybody, that is, except one clearly insane woman who thought every gesture was hilarious and emitted a piercing shriek to prove it. It was singularly the most uncomfortable period of time I've spent in a cinema, before or since. Mum still owes me a decent film for insisting we see this tripe!

Since 1992, of course, the British seem to have learnt to make comedies that have mass market appeal, drawing as they do on our distinctly dry sense of humour. This film, however, was made in the dark ages where it was still considered acceptable in a comedy to gather the most offensive set of stereotypes together, and laugh as they did things like fall over. Oh, my sides. The events of the film seem to take place in some kind of parallel universe where the laws of reality do not apply. Every contrivance is shoehorned into the script in a desperately pathetic attempt to get a laugh. Surely the whole point of comedy is imagining such a thing happening to yourself? There is no chance of that, this is just a movie; and thank God for that, because it means I never, ever have to watch it again. If possible, burn all tapes of this you can find. If somebody sits you down to watch this, gouge your own eyes out. Anything to avoid this steaming pile of dung masquerading as a funny movie.

This comedy film is better than most, even though it wasn't successful and the critics hated it.

It's set in Venice and involves farcical mix-ups that are caused by three very different men being confused with each other - because their surnames sound similar and they have the same initial.

Seriously, who greenlighted this? Or is it lit...? Anyway, this being the first thing by Herman I've watched, and me basically not being familiar with anyone in this except for Brown(and hearing that Moore is considered a talent, R.I.P.), I don't know whose fault it is that this is pure crap. But it is. And I'll tell you why: For all of my looking, I could not find a single, genuine joke in this. No, I'm not saying that they were all poor; I'm saying, such does not exist in this. This did not even get a smile out of me, and I can be an easy audience. The entire thing is based upon the mix-up of three names, and this confusion is maintained purely because these people are morons that don't behave in any kind of realistic way(yes, I know it's a farce; I say that they don't get away with it if they're not making us laugh), leading to predictable gags and ridiculous misunderstandings. Acting is decent. At least it moves fast; too much so, in fact. Zero character development(what seems like it might be is thrown out for cheap attempts at comedy), and essentially, the entire flick is absolutely nothing other than a series of connected occurrences, each straining credulity more than those that came before it. No point, no themes, nothing. Don't you need, you know, content? It is interesting... no... no, that's, that's not the word... terrifying, that's it... that there are actually people who find stupid stereotypes, painfully done, as well as torture, *funny*. There is plenty of disturbing content and mild/hinted violence, a little moderate language and brief sexuality(not graphic) in this. I recommend this to... those who actually think the above sounds appealing. 1/10

In Venice, gangster Scarpa is expecting an assassination attempt but he doesn't know that it's hit-man Mike Lawton (Bryan Brown). Melvyn Orton (Dudley Moore) is in town to check out properties for his boss. Real estate agent Caroline Wright (Patsy Kensit) is looking unload a dud quickly for triple the commission. Maurice Horton (Richard Griffiths) is looking to find an arranged date with Patricia Fulford. Major screw-ups by the bumbling bellboy (Bronson Pinchot) send the wrong messages to the various hotel clients. Horton is sent to Caroline Wright expecting a date. Orton is sent to Scarpa expecting to buy the property. Lawton is sent to Fulford expecting to kill her.

Writer/director Mark Herman misses the mark on this one. Bronson Pinchot's broad comedic performance is very distracting. The three misunderstandings come with a few chuckles. Patsy Kensit and Richard Griffiths are probably the closest to being funny. They are a little bit of sitcom and is almost comical. The other two stories are nowhere near funny. They turn into a lot of running around. After Patsy and Richard have done the deed, even that falls flat. It's a lot of misunderstanding without the comedy.

I've watched this movie 5 times and each time I find another slew of great jokes, subtle sight gags or unexpected comedic high points. Never mind Dudley Moore, the real stars of this movie are Richard Griffiths, who last year took home an Oscar and Tony for his wildly hilarious and touching performance in History Boys, and his co-star, Penelope Wilton who plays the incredible Patricia in this movie. She manages to be guileless, disarming, charming and willful in the same scene. (Wilton also won a Tony for History Boys, was nominated for an Oscar, but lost out.) Not to mention Bryan Brown who is marvelous as the conflicted hit-man who secretly longs for a quiet corner and a florists' shop in which to retire. Who knew, after two F/X films, that he was so great at comedy. The main stars and head writer are comedy veterans from the Monty Python-precursor, Beyond the Fringe, and their adeptness with comedy really shows.

This movie has everything: A great plot worthy of Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, or Tom Stoppard at his funniest (Think The Real Inspector Hound, or Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead.) If you like your comedy literate, with beautiful scenery, subtlety, a little dark humor around the edges, and a surprise ending, you will love this movie. The entire case of multiple mistaken identity is based on Bronson Pinchot's riotous inability (in his best acting job ever) to pronounce the English "H". The result spins out in an unpretentious and delightful romp around beauteous locations in Venice, with marvelous comedic touches. These include a mob hit man who delights in taking Polaroids of his victims in ever more distressing situations and sordid death scenes. The torture of Dudley Moore reminded me of the best plays of the Irishman, Martin McDonagh. Think the Lieutenant of Inishmore, and substitute a Venetian villa for the cat. It's here, it's gone, it's falling apart, no it's back again.

You wonder, throughout the second half of the movie, how the good guys will extricate themselves with all limbs intact, and how the evil doers will be punished. They are, and they do, all with several surprising twists that keep you guessing until the end. But you have to pay attention to appreciate everything else that is going on. (Look for the wonderful gags about Euruopean hotel cable TV, and the rhinoceroses at play.) Literate viewers who like witty repartee tossed off the way the Brits do it best, you will love this movie. Guaranteed.

The premise sounds very promising, and the cast is filled with very recognizable names and faces. As the story progresses of mistaken identities, miscommunication, and crossed wires, there are certainly plenty of laughs to be had as conversations get jumbled between what one character means and what another hears; sight gags, physical comedy, and near misses abound; and exaggerated characters and reactions adjoin ridiculous situational humor. At its best this boasts terrific, wild energy as the tangled plot becomes even more jumbled before the threads align toward their ultimate resolution(s), and the actors unfailingly bring their characters and the ill-fitting pairings to wonderful, vibrant life. In what was only his first full-length feature as writer or director, Mark Herman penned a terrifically smart, complex narrative with far-flung characters, and scene writing that strains to maintain order amidst the silliness. All along the way Herman illustrates fine capabilities as director even so early in his career - whipping his cast into a veritable frenzy, orchestrating action sequences with tremendous vigor, and somehow managing to keep some level of balance between the chaos of the proceedings and the steadiness that must necessarily be enforced to engage viewers.

With all this firmly in mind, the entertainment that 'Blame it on the bellboy' offers is perhaps inconsistent. Some moments are very funny; elsewhere the sense of comedic adventure lends itself more to light amusement. The problem is compounded by severe tonal issues that present in the first half especially, for the humor rather has difficulty counterbalancing the dark vibes and violence that arise as the cases of mistaken identity first start to bear fruit. Just as much to the point, there's a mean streak to the humor that just hasn't aged well; I'm sure the thirteen year olds among the audiences have been pleased over the years, but for anyone of a less juvenile persuasion the shtick doesn't stick well. Be all that as it may, mostly the madcap fervor this boasts, and the minor ingenuity of the convoluted scenario, take precedence over the less desirable facets. The writing is stronger than not, and I can't fault the direction at all; with reliable talent on hand like Dudley Moore, Bronson Pinchot, Richard Griffiths, and Andreas Katsulas, among others, enjoyment is assured even if it's not the utmost top of the line. This doesn't make a great first impression, but when all is said and done its strengths outweigh its weaknesses, and it really is a good time overall.

Unless you're a diehard fan of someone involved I don't think there's any need to go out of your way for it, and strictly speaking there are other titles one should prioritize in their watch list. Still, if you do have the chance to watch, this proves itself once you get past the rough patches that first present, and more than not it's pretty fun. It's not a must-see classic, but nor does every film need to be, and 'Blame it on the bellboy' ably plays in its space as something relatively light for a lazy day.

Surprisingly, this movie was not quite as godawful as I imagined it would be. But it's still pretty bad, the whole farce is based on a one-joke concept and everything in the movie is wrapped in predictability. Avoid.

Three different men check into a Venice hotel for very different reasons. Melvyn Orton has come to look at property being sold by Caroline Wright. Maurice Horton has come to meet a blind date that has been set up by a dating agency. Mike Lawton is a professional hit-man who has come to do a job. On their arrival each man is due to get information delivered to the hotel but the similarity of their surnames combined with language difficulties sees them getting the wrong contact information without knowing it. So Orton goes to view a house and finds himself held by a mobster. Horton thinks he is on a date with property seller Wright while Lawton thinks he has to kill Patricia Fulford (who thinks she is on a blind date).

Although this film produced the odd laugh from me, I found it very difficult to get past how very contrived and forced this farce was for the most part. It is a very dated British comedy that is rather predictable and very silly, those with low expectations might not be too disappointed because it occasionally amused me but there wasn't a great of wit here and everything was painted in very broad strokes. The characters are obviously thin and the comedy is supposed to come from all of them talking to one another at cross-purposes. At first this is a little funny but after a while it gets a bit tiresome and there isn't a great deal to distract as it moves forward. However I must contest those that call this the worst film they have ever seen; it isn't that bad – basic of course but it is weak, not terrible.

The cast mainly have little to do apart from act confused. Brown and Wilton are probably the best of the bunch and even they are not that good. They manage to produce interesting characters and are better for it. Moore has nothing to do of value and this is a poor thing to remember him by. Griffiths is amusing and works reasonable well with Kensit, but they don't have good material to work with. They all try hard to make the most of what they are working with but generally there isn't much there other than mugging.

Overall a faintly amusing farce but one that is far too contrived, forced and obvious to really be that funny. I can understand why many viewers hate it but it really isn't that bad – but it is pretty damn weak throughout but maybe if you are in an undemanding mood you'll get tickled by it a bit.

This movie warrants no other explanation than: It truly is awful cinema. It is a valid attempt at a farce though, and not by far the worse film I have ever seen. However it is difficult to become absorbed in the story which moves too fast (with too little of interest happening to fill in the gaps) and too foolishly (suspension of disbelief doesn't include a plot worthy of only ridicule.

It is difficult to know how this lame comedy ever got made. It is totally devoid of any humour. The reasonable cast cant manage to extract any comedy out of the script. Still there are some pleasant views of Venice which remind me of a pleasant trip to that city.

This film is a comedy, and like most, it has some bits that you shouldn't take too seriously!

But it plays out well enough, helped by a mass of British acting talent, plus Bryan Brown (Aussie). A couple of reviews have criticised Dudley Moore, but I daresay he was just as directed, and what else could he have done - spot of juggling?

Richard Griffiths is great, as a naughty businessman, so too Alison Steadman as his long-suffering wife, Bryan Brown keeps a straight face as a would-be hitman, and Penelope Wilton is just perfect (as ever) firstly as a lonely spinster looking for romance, then when she snags the hitman who actually wants to settle down (as a florist!).

Jim Carter enjoys his comedy role as a gangster, and he and Wilton would be reunited a few years later in the excellent Downtown Abbey.

Most 'screwball comedies' have to gloss over some holes in the plot, but, hey folks, it's not real life. This is just like the classic West End farces that Brian Rix appeared in for so many years, with titles like "My aunty's vicar stole my trousers" (etc), misunderstandings galore, characters grabbing the wrong end of every possible stick. And the ending is nicely worked out for all parties, bar the gangsters of course --- well, they'd have to meet a sticky end?! If you want Shakespeare, or opera, you bought the wrong ticket?!

For the most part, "Blame It on the Bellboy" is low comedy: a bellhop (Bronson Pinchot) in a Venice hotel confuses the invitations going to a realtor (Dudley Moore), a philanderer (Richard Griffiths) and a mafioso (Bryan Brown), sending each man to the wrong location. There are some funny situations along the way - most of which involve the bellhop himself - but I think that it would have come out a little better had they cast someone other than Dudley Moore; Chevy Chase, Steve Martin or Dan Aykroyd could have done that role easily.

So, it's a nice, silly way to pass time. But don't bother with it more than once. All the cast members have done better than this.

In H-H-Honolulu, H-H-Hawaii for a wh-wh-whole h-h-half h-h-hour...

I've just read about 5 reviews panning this movie, one went so far as to call it the worst movie ever. What? I guess maybe it was too fast for them, they only like snuff films, or their diploma from film school stipulated that they can only find enjoyment in movies of over 3 hours that explain, through obscure symbolism, the whole mystery of human existence. Whatever, they have lost or maybe never had the ability to enjoy entertainment for entertaining only, no deep characters, no profound message, just slapstick. Someone complained about no "character development" fer chrissake! What? You needed to know what made Brown a hit-man, What school Moore went to? I guess my last thought would be; what then possessed them to watch this movie and write a review? Just to show how "culturny" they are compared to all of the simpletons who enjoyed the film? Get over your snooty selves! It's a funny film that you don't have to think about, just titter for 80+ minutes, then forget it and go on with your life.

This is an excellent British comedy -totally underrated in my view - which is set in the beautiful city of Venice.

The cast includes the formidable Alison Steadman and many famous British TV and stage stars, and is headed by the talented Dudley Moore who gives a genius performance - one of his best since Arthur.

British films wouldn't be the same without a 'foreigner' - no Julia, Jamie or Andie in this one, but Bryan gives a surprisingly fine comic performance.

It comes right out of the traditional formula for the West End comedy farces - which quite frankly sometimes bore/annoy me and seem to star the old has been type actors/entertainers. But, BIOTB has more substance to it, has the bonus of being set in one of the world's most beautiful cities, and the acting is excellent.

I must admit, having visited the city not long before I saw the film (I saw it on big screen at the cinema), there was a bit of nostalgia there as well "ooh, I stood on that bridge" "I recognise that gondolier!" and "that's where I bought you that mask from!!!".

Easy to watch and pleasing to the eye, I would highly recommend this film.

I was still laughing out loud at the very end as the credits rolled.

Look, it may be silly, but it's fun. Enjoy!

EXCELLENT movie, strong acting and beautiful music!

What I remember most about this film is being unable to watch it. The script seemed to be a horrible miasma of incomprehensible non sequiturs, with the point being to laugh at the foreign guy. I recall being appalled while watching "Taxi" that Americans found Andy Kaufman's Latka so hilarious, when it seemed that Kaufman was playing the guy as sincerely terrified of the world he found himself in. Similarly, Bronson Pinchot's foreign characters (here, his Italian bellboy is in his native land, but all of the other characters were British, I think) just don't seem to be humorous. I can't recall a less enjoyable movie, which is strange, because the cast is a fine one, particularly Dudley Moore and Brian Brown. Perhaps I did have some kind of flu that night, but I really blame it on the movie.