Stiff Upper Lips (1997)

It's easy to see why Stiff Upper Lips was not a bigger hit. Traditional parody movie fans would gravitate toward broader target genres -- action movies, mob movies -- rather than Merchant-Ivory fare, and ardent fans of British period pieces may not naturally enjoy seeing their sacred cows lampooned. But Gary Sinyor's film contains some very witty observations about the stuffed shirts who populate films like A Room With a View and Howards End -- and, implicitly, the screenwriters who create such characters. It's not possible to recommend it without reservation, as the film does suffer from inconsistent quality. Fortunately, the best parts are better than the dull patches are dull. Even though Peter Ustinov gets top billing, and it's great to see him take his turn at comedy, Robert Portal steals the show. Portal plays a suitor who's so stodgy that he goes swimming in a full suit, likens the most mundane happenings to Homer's poetry, and prefers to communicate in Latin or hieroglyphics to demonstrate his erudition. Although not everything works, the most consistently funny material involves the perennial misuse of servants. One servant (Sean Pertwee) is compelled to carry a box of English turf on his back throughout Italy and India, unrolling it whenever the aristocrats desire to have tea, while another (Frank Finlay) is so fearful of impropriety that he consults a primer on permissible facial expressions for butlers. Because Stiff Upper Lips is not constructed as a series of exact spoofs of classic scenes from the genre, it actually runs the risk of being too subtle. But that fits well with a target audience that's generally disinclined toward slapstick. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide