The Search for John Gissing

Now I remember why I cancelled the NetFlix membership the first time around.  Aside from the fact that my tv died.  They make out like bandits if you hang onto the movies for two weeks before you watch them.  I finally found the time to plop this one into the dvd player last night.

Cute little film.  I can't see what the big fuss was about it - why it took so long to release it to dvd, as they did, why no distributors picked it up, which they didn't.  I'm not sure if the NetFlix dvd version was with or without the changes that Jack Binder wanted to make to the film pre-release.

It was funny!   Some parts a bit overworked.  Stereotypical characters, i.e. the low class slightly thuggish cousin from Yorkshire; the crazy older German Lady (reminded me of Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein just a little bit); the fussy French C.E.O.; the helpful but opportunistic London cabby.  But somehow it all works.  It's a nice piece of ensemble acting.  

Some standouts.  Janeane Garofolo is a babe.  She was absolutely hot while still being bitingly funny.  The actor who played the cleaning guy was hilarious with his various choices of music to clean by while taking bribes for access to various offices.  Rickman - as usual - is amazing.  Too bad this little gem of a performance probably won't get the attention it deserves but he is such a good comic actor.  He was over the top when called for and delightfully underplayed and subtle at the same time.  That and he fills out a pinstriped suit quite nicely. 

Enjoy the end credits sequence - the entire cast tap dancing - you'll have to rent the film to find out why!