The Tall Guy

As British romances go, The Tall Guy owes more to TV's Fawlty Towers than The English Patient--but what it lacks in depth, it makes up in sheer comedy. --Grant Balfour

Others may focus on the rather sublime surrealism of the stage performances where Jeff Goldblum teams up with Rowan Atkinson on the London stage but for me the essence of this movie is the sending up of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Many of your readers will not be aware of a production that the RSC did of the horror flick Carrie. I am. I was there and lived to tell the tale. Needless to say the concept was horribly flawed and clearly did not attract much in the way of customer support and thankfully had only a short shelf life.

The Tall Guy has some marvellous moments for instance the feather scene as well as a cartwheeling Goldblum on a hill in front of a large full moon. Emma Thompson in an unfamiliar role as an endearing nurse but the highlight of this quirky British movie has to be the scenes which centre on the RSC musical "Elephant".

Any of your readers who are familiar with the theatre aristocracy in England will know of the position of the RSC in that hierarchy. In recent years the question of government financing, the Barbican theatre location in London have all been major drama productions with the whole entertainment world being given free seats by that great arts patron, the media. The RSC is a self-contained little world much like a living opera with extravagant gestures and larger than life characters. And here's the rub. Elephant exposes a lot of the inner workings of the RSC and pokes fun at them. And a good thing too. A production company which produces a Romeo and Juliet where Romeo dies by an intavenous injection of poison deserves to be poked fun at.

Seriously though, the good thing about this is that it does show that the Brits can poke fun at their revered institutions whether they be Parliament or the RSC and not take everything too seriously.

Watching the VHS version again recently in eager anticipation of the DVD release I was struck by the realisation that two masterly comic productions have yet to air on VHS or DVD which would find great favour with US audiences: Not the 9 O'Clock News and Spitting Image.

On a final note there is something for music buffs too, the sight of...

No I will not spoil it. Have great fun with this DVD. Now what about Yellowbeard?

Postscript March 29 2002.

After watching the DVD several times, I dug out my old PAL copy of the movie which I had devotedly brought over with me from merry olde England. I was aghast to find that six minutes have been cut, all of which is unnecessary and detract from the movie. The cuts are not pretty and should be restored. Please, if anyone out there is reading who has the authority to correct this butcher's savagery, please do so. There really is no need to chop this delightful movie...after all the sex was left in. If you can, try to see the original movie. It will make more sense that way.

...


Better than Lemons, Tampons, and Hitler*   July 29, 2001
Mike Stone (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

*[a reference to my favourite exchange in the film:

Dexter (Jeff Goldblum): What's your name?

Kate (Emma Thompson): Kate. Kate Lemon. Horrid name.

Dexter (nervously): No, it's nice. Just imagine, it could have been `Hitler' or `Tampons'.

(Later he mistakenly introduces her as `Kate Tampon'. A fine example of the absurdist humour to be found herein.]

"The Tall Guy" begins the trilogy of films, written by Richard Curtis, in which Yanks fall in love with Brits. It's much less familiar than it's successors, "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill", but definitely their equal in the quality of its romantic comedy. Curtis has once again acquitted himself a samurai when it comes to these kinds of movies. Here, the romance is palpable, the wit heaped on in buckets, and the whole confection just plain delightful.

Jeff Goldblum, in the title role, is a far less cool and together character than he normally plays, but he pulls it off. He has the sort of acting style that makes you believe he's saying the words for the first time, layered over a unique rhythm of speaking that's all his own. His Dexter King -- an American actor hardly working in England -- is constantly falling down and getting stepped on (literally and metaphorically). He just can't do anything right. Until one day, Emma Thompson's Nurse Kate sees through his ruse of getting inoculated for a trip to Morocco, and falls in love with him. Thompson is clever, witty, terribly cool and efficient. Which makes her falling in love with Goldblum that much more effective. These two actors work extremely well together. And of course they share the famous scene of prodigious humping that does more damage to a bedroom than anything this side of Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane". It's quite ridiculous but very amusing.

The background of their romance is populated by much silliness. Leading the charge is Rowan Atkinson, as Goldblum's boss, a popular comic who's a tyrant out of the spotlight. Atkinson spews malice extremely well. And if I remember correctly, Curtis (who wrote for Atkinson on both "Blackadder" and "Mr. Bean") based the character on Atkinson himself! The final act is dominated by the absurd staging of a musical based on the Elephant Man ("Elephant!"). Watching the actors run through the show's songs, completely straight-faced, is a treat in itself. The rest of the movie is just as absorbing. If you liked "Four Weddings" and got sucked in by "Notting Hill", then treat yourself to "The Tall Guy" too.


Hysterical!   May 12, 2003
Matt Howe (Washington, DC)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

THE TALL GUY has been a favorite of mine for years. I take great pride in being a fan of this "guilty pleasure" film! I try to turn people onto it as often as possible.

THE TALL GUY, first and foremost, is very British in its humor, which means there is irony, surrealism, and jokes that don't depend on insults (Americans *love* the insult-joke).

THE TALL GUY has the funniest sex scene (Goldblum and Thompson) that I've ever seen. And as others have mentioned, the ELEPHANT! musical is hysterical. I cried the first time I saw the musical numbers ... it's that hilarious.

At heart, THE TALL GUY is a sweet romance. But its British sensibilities and backstage humor (Goldblum's character is an underdog actor) lifts it above an average screwball comedy. And Emma Thompson is very charming as Nurse Kate! One forgets after all of her serious Shakespeare and Jane Austin roles that she is quite a comedienne.

So enjoy THE TALL GUY! And remember: "Somewhere up in heaven there's an angel with big ears."


Elephant!   October 10, 2001
D. Hartley (Seattle, WA USA)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

One of the best comedies of the 80's. Whether it slipped under the public's radar or was simply a victim of poor marketing is up for debate, but "The Tall Guy" should be required viewing for romantic comedy buffs. Deftly directed by British TV comic Mel Smith with a high-brow/low-brow blend of sophisticated cleverness and riotous vulgarity (somehow he makes it work), this is the stuff cult followings are made of. The perfect cast features Jeff Goldblum as an American actor working on the London stage who is lovestruck by English nurse Emma Thompson (in her most uninhibited performance). Rowan Atkinson is so convincing as Goldblum's employer, a London stage comic beloved by his audience but an absolute backstage terror to cast and crew, that one suspects our lovable "Mr. Bean" really IS a nasty, arrogant, egomaniac off-screen. The most hilariously choreographed scene of "wild sex" ever put on film (featuring Goldblum and Thompson) is worth the price of admission alone, and the extended set-piece, a staged musical version of the "Elephant Man" (a mercilessly funny Andrew Lloyd Webber parody) begs comparisons to "The Producers". Seek this one out.


A Very Funny, Clever and Romantic Movie   December 6, 2004
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Jeff Goldblum plays Dexter King, a tall American in London trying to establish himself as an actor. For the last two years he's been getting by playing stooge in the comedy act of a monumentally self-centered comedian, Ron Anderson, played by Rowan Atkinson. He meets Kate Lemmon, a nurse at a local hospital. In short order, he falls in love, gets fired by Anderson, is hired to play the lead in a London musical, has a fling, loses Kate, wins Kate back.

The movie is funny and a bit whimsical, very clever, and is merciless at poking fun at the theater establishment. Dexter's big break, for instance, is playing John Merrick in Elephant!, a musical based on The Elephant Man. Think of third rate (or even first-rate) Andrew Lloyd-Weber. The book and songs are so awful and ponderous they're fascinating. Dexter's face makeup, in addition to huge lumps and ears, includes what looks like a small elephant's trunk attached to his nose.

Goldblum narrates the movie and comes across as slightly neurotic but endearing, unsure of himself but able to come through when it counts. Emma Thompson's character is all brisk common sense with a big helping of drollness. They go to bed on their first date because, as Kate explains, it eliminates all the awkwardness later on. Their love making is hilarious and could have been directed by Buster Keaton. Rowan Atkinson, as usual, almost steals the movie. He has two or three routines on stage, one with Goldblum as stooge with both playing singing, dancing off-color nuns. "Is something bothering you, Dexter?" Atkinson's character asks solicitously afterwards backstage. "Well, yes there is," Dexter says. "Then sort it out," Atkinson snarls, "before I sack you and hire a lobotomized monkey to play your role." The happy resolution of the movie takes place in the emergency room of Kate's hospital where various badly damaged people are being brought in...maimed accident victims, a heart attack case, a fellow with a vacuum cleaner pipe lodged up his bottom. Somehow it all works out.

This is a sweet, funny, intelligent movie with three first-rate lead actors.

The DVD looks very good.