)- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, May 24, 1995
[he Englishman came down - hard
y Sarah Rogacki The fault of "Englishman" lies in
ily Arts Writer yx °Yx poorly structured writing and direction.
Historically, people have done outra- Christopher Monger has the best of inten-
-ous, even idiotic stunts to prove a The Englishman tions; based on a family folk tale passed
nse of community, pride or accom- Who Went Up a Hill down from his grandfather, the film finds
ishment. The Guinness Book of World its narrative in storytelling by book-ending
ecords is a testament to the lengths we and Came Down a the work with an elderly man relating the
to document the stuff of freakish M story to his grandson. This classic stroke of
yth. narrative crafting becomes underminedby
Disappointingly, there are no 20-foot Directed by Christopher the simplistic plot and the slow moving
igernails or frog jumping contests in Monger; with Hugh Grant shot structure. It takes a good hour and a
iter/director Christopher Monger's new half for the filmmaker to communicate the
m, "The Englishman Who Went Up a and Tara Fitzgerald plight of the villagers, which the viewer
.+ *-ill and Came Down a Mountain." Hugh At Ann Arbor 1&2 understands in the first 20 minutes. Despite
rant stars as Anson, a strapping young the dry English wit, this kind of lagging
irtographer from England who ventures rest among the natives. Led by barkeep narrative not only insults our intelligence
to Wales to measure the height of an his- Morgan the Goat, played by Colm but has us wondering if we fed the dog or
,ric mountain, which defines nationalism Meaney, the townspeople set out to add 20 turned the bumer off on the stove - any
>the headstrong villagers who make their feet to the mountain. Throw in Tara reason to leave the theater as soon as pos-
)me in itsvalley. Against the backdrop of Fitzgerald as a token love interest for the sible. The last 20 minutes provide relief to
Jorld War I, Anson's announcement that charming cartographer and you have cin- all involved in this messy misadventure;
e mountain is actually ahill inspires un- ematicboredom at its finest. the villagers build the stupid mountain,
e ee ee e e ee ee e e ee ee eo e ee ee ee e e ee ee e o e. ee ee e "
Hello, I'm Hugh Grant and I'm very English and very Grant-ish In my new film.
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mud-spattered boy kisses mud-spattered
girl, and the movie finally ends.
Due to the poor writing, the perfor-
mances suffer fromalackof substance and
a surprising underdevelopment in a ridicu-
lously long film. Although a wonderful ac-
tor in all respects, Hugh Grant becomes a
British poster boy by sputtering through his
empty lines, running around in cute little
knickers, and brushing his hair out of those
sparkling baby blues. This film gives Hugh
Grant the opportunity to be very "Hugh
Grant-ish"and not much more. There isno
real film chemistry between Grant and
Fitzgerald, whose relationship plays only
a bit better than their matching in "Sirens,'
and there is no real development of the
couple's attraction until, of course, the ei
of the movie. Colm Meaney offers so
comic relief as the sprightly, virile bar
tender, whose illegitimate offspring formc
legion of equally ginger-haired children it
the town. Watch out "Village of the
Damned," the kids in this film sure are cut
- and who really cares about that stupi
mountain, anyway?
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