Guest House Paradiso
Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson take the two losers from Bottom (Ritchie and Eddie, although their surnames are changed for this film) and put them in charge of the sleaziest hotel in England. What then follows is 90 minutes of violent slapstick comedy as the pair letch, lie and steal their way from one disaster to the next.
Guest House Paradiso doesn’t have a much of a storyline, preferring instead to string together a series of comic set-pieces. But let’s face it, no-one is watching this for Rik Mayall’s insight into the human condition or for Adrian Edmondson’s sensitive portrayal of a thieving alcoholic. Mayall and Edmondson have stuck to what they’re good at and done it well.
This is a funny film and it kept me laughing pretty much the whole way through - Rik and Ade’s mindlessly gratuitous and excessively violent slapstick style of comedy has a hell of a long way to go before it’s going to start looking stale and there is still something inherently funny about watching Ritchie try to walk with a pencil rammed up his rectum. That said, Rik and Ade’s usual nastiness has been toned down for the film and a lot of the scenes involving Ritchie and the hotel guests leave Ritchie looking like a weak imitation of John Cleese’s Basil Fawlty.
Also, there are a few scenes where they have tried to carry over some of the running gags from Bottom, but undermined them by holding back from going all the way - presumably because a non-UK audience who aren’t familliar with the sitcom just aren’t going to know what the hell they’re going on about. The ‘blouse’ joke which is cut short with a pencil springs to mind as do a couple of instances which appear to set up a joke between Ritchie and Gina Carbonara and then not carry it through. But these are few and far between and only a minor criticism.
Rik and Ade have taken their Bottom characters out of their sitcom environment before with their Bottom Live shows. Guest House Paradiso feels very much like the next step along this path and, if the live shows are anything to go by, we could be looking forward to another Ritchie and Eddie film in the future. I, for one, certainly hope so.
In short, if you find the idea of two grown men beating each other about the head with a fire extinguisher, watch Guest House Paradiso. If you don’t, watch it anyway - you may well change your mind.
Friday 24 Nov 2000 | Paul Pritchard | Comedy
This film probably would have been a disappointment if it were only half an hour long. At three times as long it is a bit of a chore. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done funnier in Bottom and The Young Ones. Maybe I’ve become old and tweed but a drawn out fighting with pans and various kitchen utensils wears thin after the first minute or so. Being a huge fan of Bottom as a 10 year old (taping it then watching them when mum wasn’t around because she was scared I was going to end up like them if I watched it too much) I was quite looking foward to this film though the slapstick hilarity of Bottom is maily because it’s so concentrated and intense. Guest House Paradiso takes this vital ingredient away and leaves you wondering why they ever bothered.