)- 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. t' Chris Mars Ex-Replacemer New Album!!! Dark and Twis We Like It! A N N A R 6 O R (Special Sale Memorial Weekend too! Call for Details.) nts ted! G tMBar Non( Itirl " f " : _ 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? These CD's on SALE Through 6/7/95 THE ANNE Mon-Sat 12-9:30 Sun 12-6 * Monday-Thursday 10-9:30 Friday and Saturday 10-11 Sunday 12-8 -4r * * * i! * , 1 " X :! . * * * * Musc ad .,. . " ! Col! " " Muk" Pa ! ! Braveheart -MelGibson stars Mad Love --Chris O'Donnell aP- and directs. Opens today. Drew Barrymore are in mad love, Casper - Spielberg-produced Opens Friday. live-action cartoon adaptation. Opens Tales From the Hood - Inner-city Friday. horror stories. Opens today. Johnny Mnemonic - Film ver- The Wild Bunch - 70mm sion of the William Gibson cyber Director's cut. A must see. Opens Fri- classic. Opens Friday. day at the Michigan. One week only. * * * * 1 Col,, Music from a sparkling Planet * Space-Age Bachelor * Pad Music * esquivel { 9 Retro Kling of Lounge Extraordinaire!!! Classic '60's Bachelor Spaciness! STUDENT DISCOUNTS I'bL0RALPH iLAUREN GIORGIO ARMANI CALVIN KLEIN I9- * y - :- , r a 320 S.State Below Decker Drugs 62- 1945 r "5 r " 523 E. Liberty in the Michigan Theater Building 994-8031 t 0 :We're on the Internet!http://www.schoolkids.com/skr/ E-mail . info@schoolkids.com . .0 00 0 ..... .... .... ...000...Of00*..40.s... 0.. ..........i...0.