THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 16, 1995 TAG: 9510140048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
IT IS DIFFICULT to guess just what director Mike Newell was trying to get at with ``An Awfully Big Adventure.'' For moments at a time, he seems to be trying to present a riotous comedy about eccentric theater folk. A moment, later, he's swelling up the music and having everyone go into tears.
Whatever was being tried, it didn't work. The uneven and super-dullish British-Irish production is neither here nor there. It wavers somewhere in between.
The setting is a provincial theater in Liverpool, directed by a priggish and selfish tyrant played by Hugh Grant. The cigarette-puffing director spent too much money on the season's first two shows and now hopes to break even by bringing in a flamboyant actor, played by Alan Rickman, to play Capt. Hook in a production of ``Peter Pan.''
This film may do more harm to Hugh Grant's career than anything he did on Sunset Boulevard. His characterization is no more than wielding a cigarette at all times. It is unbelievable that this is the same director who guided him to such a winning comedy as ``Four Weddings and a Funeral.'' There is no flair for comedy here.
The director chases boys around the theater. He's a despicable schemer who seems intent upon using everyone to suit his own purposes, but he's so subtle about it that the audience can take no joy, or recognition, from it.
The central character is an ingenue named Stella played by a fresh-faced someone called Georgina Cates. She wants to avoid being stuck in the local dime store by becoming an actress. Her fresh curiosity is a pleasure to see, but the script goes nowhere with it. She imagines that she's in love with the director, played by Grant, but in final desperation loses her virginity to Rickman, who loves her but can't stir her.
Such veterans as Rita Tushingham and Peter Firth (``Equs'') are in the supporting cast. It's been so long since we've seen them that they're almost unrecognizable.
Time and time again, there are false promises that there might be some break in the dull unreeling. When Rickman arrives aboard a motorcycle, there is hope. Quickly, he becomes a too-serious character. Things should pick up when ``Peter Pan'' goes into production, but there is no fun here. We expect a backstage romp. We don't get it. In lieu of that, we expect a poignant drama about theater folk. We don't get that, either.
The emphasis is on the serio in this seriocomedy, based on a novel by Beryl Bainbridge. As a drama, it is melodrama. As a comedy, it is strained.
It's more outright awful than it is anything adventurous. ILLUSTRATION: MOVIE REVIEW
``An Awfully Big Adventure''
Cast: Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Georgina Cates, Rita Tushingham,
Peter Firth
Director: Mike Newell
MPAA rating: R (nudity, language)
Mal's rating: one and 1/2 stars
Locations: Naro Expanded Cinema, Norfolk
by CNB