No, You Are NOT All Right
Today's review: I'm All Right, Jack.
Peter Sellers has a reputation as a great comedian who could disappear into his roles. Personally, however, two of his most famous roles (Inspector Clouseau and Doctor Strangelove) have left me cold. Still, I’m often willing to give actors/directors multiple chances, so I gave Sellers’ movie I’m All Right, Jack a look. Unfortunately, it didn’t wind up doing much for me either.
The story is apparently a sequel to a movie called Private’s Progress, but that one’s difficult to find, and other than two small references, it doesn’t impact the viewing experience if you see this one first/on its own. Our hero is Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), a man who came from money but wants to earn his own living. The problem is, he’s monumentally incompetent; the only way he winds up getting a job is thanks to the nepotism of his uncle Bertram (Dennis Price), though he’s advised to keep the connection secret. What Stanley doesn’t know is that his uncle is brokering an under the counter deal with a foreign nation, and the worker’s union is a bit on edge because they fear that they’re going to be investigated and forced to do more work. Stanley just bumbles along, doing his job, a pawn in first his uncle’s game, and then the union’s, which is led by Fred Kite (Sellers). Of course, the danger of being oblivious is that you may go in directions that nobody could possibly expect…
For awhile, this movie works reasonably well as a satire. It pokes fun at everybody; factories, advertising, management, unions, rich people…they’re equal opportunity in their mockery. Eventually, though, they transition from satire to black comedy, particularly in the third act, and as someone who doesn’t do well with black comedy, that was an unwelcome change. I particularly dislike the big climactic scene, which in most other movies would end with the bad guys getting their comeuppance, but in this one goes the more cynical route. Given the more lighthearted nature of the early scenes, I’m disappointed they decided to go in that direction.
Even if they had stuck to straightforward comedy, though, I probably would have started disliking it solely because of the lead. Carmichael plays the role well, but his shtick is what Monty Python called “the upper class twit”. There comes a point where being that stupid and unable to read cues goes from being funny to being frustrating, and Stanley crosses that line just as the main plot kicks in. Unfortunately, he’s the one doing most of the comedic heavy lifting-Sellers is playing his role relatively straight, and most of the other characters only appear in short bursts-so you can’t even get enough of a break from him to keep him from feeling so grating. I did wind up feeling sorry for him by the end, but that’s in spite of his personality, so I wouldn’t exactly call that a victory.
While the movie is somewhat interesting from a time capsule perspective, it’s otherwise not worth watching. Perhaps you might like it more if you respond well to black comedy, but even then, you might run into the same characterization problem I did. If you want wry British comedy with a hint of social satire, I’d stick with Monty Python.
Peter Sellers has a reputation as a great comedian who could disappear into his roles. Personally, however, two of his most famous roles (Inspector Clouseau and Doctor Strangelove) have left me cold. Still, I’m often willing to give actors/directors multiple chances, so I gave Sellers’ movie I’m All Right, Jack a look. Unfortunately, it didn’t wind up doing much for me either.
The story is apparently a sequel to a movie called Private’s Progress, but that one’s difficult to find, and other than two small references, it doesn’t impact the viewing experience if you see this one first/on its own. Our hero is Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), a man who came from money but wants to earn his own living. The problem is, he’s monumentally incompetent; the only way he winds up getting a job is thanks to the nepotism of his uncle Bertram (Dennis Price), though he’s advised to keep the connection secret. What Stanley doesn’t know is that his uncle is brokering an under the counter deal with a foreign nation, and the worker’s union is a bit on edge because they fear that they’re going to be investigated and forced to do more work. Stanley just bumbles along, doing his job, a pawn in first his uncle’s game, and then the union’s, which is led by Fred Kite (Sellers). Of course, the danger of being oblivious is that you may go in directions that nobody could possibly expect…
For awhile, this movie works reasonably well as a satire. It pokes fun at everybody; factories, advertising, management, unions, rich people…they’re equal opportunity in their mockery. Eventually, though, they transition from satire to black comedy, particularly in the third act, and as someone who doesn’t do well with black comedy, that was an unwelcome change. I particularly dislike the big climactic scene, which in most other movies would end with the bad guys getting their comeuppance, but in this one goes the more cynical route. Given the more lighthearted nature of the early scenes, I’m disappointed they decided to go in that direction.
Even if they had stuck to straightforward comedy, though, I probably would have started disliking it solely because of the lead. Carmichael plays the role well, but his shtick is what Monty Python called “the upper class twit”. There comes a point where being that stupid and unable to read cues goes from being funny to being frustrating, and Stanley crosses that line just as the main plot kicks in. Unfortunately, he’s the one doing most of the comedic heavy lifting-Sellers is playing his role relatively straight, and most of the other characters only appear in short bursts-so you can’t even get enough of a break from him to keep him from feeling so grating. I did wind up feeling sorry for him by the end, but that’s in spite of his personality, so I wouldn’t exactly call that a victory.
While the movie is somewhat interesting from a time capsule perspective, it’s otherwise not worth watching. Perhaps you might like it more if you respond well to black comedy, but even then, you might run into the same characterization problem I did. If you want wry British comedy with a hint of social satire, I’d stick with Monty Python.