A lot of oddly assorted elements get scrambled up in ”The Tall Guy”-
acting and nursing, acidic satire and swooning romance, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Elephant Man-which largely accounts for the film`s ragged,
unpredictable charm.
The first film to be directed by British comedian Mel Smith (of television`s ”Not the Nine O`Clock News”), ”The Tall Guy” stars Jeff Goldblum as Dexter King, an American actor struggling to make a living in the London theater. Dexter`s stage experience had been restricted to one walk-on as Abraham Lincoln before his engagement as straight man to popular comic Ron Anderson (Smith`s partner Rowan Atkinson, lampooning himself) in a show that was supposed to run a few weeks and has lately entered its fifth year.
Dexter, whose nightly duties include wearing a tutu and being smacked silly by his boss, isn`t laughing anymore. His discontent takes the form of a possibly psychosomatic case of hay fever that causes him to sneeze, strangely enough, at the exact moment his detested employer delivers his laugh lines. A visit to a public health doctor doesn`t provide much relief, but it does bring him into contact with the beautiful and terminally sarcastic Kate Lemmon (Emma Thompson). She`s the nurse who gives him his shots, and with whom he falls madly in love.
Smith`s background in sketch comedy shows in the episodic construction-the film is made up of short bits, rather than a flowing narrative-though for once the fragmentation doesn`t feel like a flaw. ”The Tall Guy” has the easy, associative rhythm of a comedy revue, moving from idea to idea and exhausting each in turn.
The sharpest and nastiest of those ideas is ”Elephant!,” an elaborate, thoroughly devastating parody of Andrew Lloyd Webber`s bombastic musicals. Dexter lands the title role as the world`s ugliest human-to be performed under pounds of revolting rubber makeup-after being fired from his second-banana job; with one look at his hangdog expression, the director knows he`s found the perfect object of pity. The tuneless score includes the jaunty ”I`m Packing My Trunk,” the heart-rending dirge ”Somewhere Up in Heaven, There`s an Angel with Big Ears,” and, as a bonus, a Bob Fosse-like soft-shoe number performed by a chorus line equipped with animated trunks.
Goldblum and the perky Thompson (last seen as Katharine of France in the
”Henry V” directed by her husband, Kenneth Branagh) compose an appealingly mismatched couple, and do much to develop some real feeling in the midst of a script that comes dangerously close to a collection of one-liners. Smith is sometimes too eager to sacrifice emotional plausibility for a laugh (when Dexter and Kate first make love, they leave her apartment as devastated as a World War I battlefield), but his affection for the characters shines through.
”The Tall Guy” is that rarity, a contemporary comedy with heart.
”THE TALL GUY”
(STAR)(STAR)(STAR)
Directed by Mel Smith; written by Richard Curtis; production designed by Grant Hicks; photographed by Adrian Biddle; edited by Dan Rae; music by Peter Brewis; produced by Paul Webster. A Miramax Films release; opens Sept. 21 at the Fine Arts and Old Orchard theaters. Running time: 1:30. MPAA rating: R. Strong language, adult situations, nudity.
THE CAST
Dexter King…………………………………………Jeff Goldblum
Kate Lemon………………………………………….Emma Thompson
Ron Anderson……………………………………….Rowan Atkinson
Cyprus Charlie………………………………………….Emil Wolk
Carmen……………………………………………Geraldine James
