A drunk, washed-up poet is hired to solve a family mystery.
The main character is a highly literate pompous old fellow struggling with his own existence. A lot of the comedy comes from him insulting people using very long words, which I found very amusing.
There is not a lot to this movie. Don't expect dramatic plot twists, edge of the seat action, moving performances or fire works of any kind. But this film achieves what it sets out to do perfectly!
This film is gentle, interesting, funny and quite refreshing.
This is definitely a Sunday afternoon watch, but for that time slot it is perfect! Production, acting, script are all exceptional!
This film hasn't tried to reach too far and it pays off dividends.
Watch this after your Sunday roast with a drink for a perfect afternoon.
The Hippopotamus
2017
Action / Comedy
The Hippopotamus
2017
Action / Comedy
57% - Critics
48% - Audience
6.3Plot summary
A country manor mystery that's actually a deliciously wicked comedy of manners, The Hippopotamus is a rollicking adaptation of the best-selling novel by Stephen Fry. It centers on a lapsed poet, failed drama critic, redundant husband and hard-working drunk, Ted Wallace (the mellifluously voiced Roger Allam in a rare starring role). Fired from his newspaper job, Ted leaps at the chance to drown his sorrows at his old friend's country estate, Swafford Hall. A series of spiritual healings have recently put the household in a tizzy. The purported miracle worker is his hosts' teenage son, Ted's godson, David (Tommy Knight). Lord and Lady Logan are set on sharing their boy's "gift" with the world, blissfully unaware that his "laying on of hands" trick involves, well, an emphasis on "laying." At odds with a colorful party of fellow guests only too ready to swallow anything they're told, Ted sets out to prove the miracles are a hoax and save the young man from a lifetime of embarrassment.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
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720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Won't blow your mind but is perfectly formed
Worth your time.
This is a beautifully well made, extraordinary well acted movie. I would argue it's quite a high brow watch, but then you should be expecting that.
There isn't exactly a plot of sorts, other than someone is hired to solve a series of mysteries, other than that it just seems to be a series of random occurrences.
The visuals are really nice, great location work, and an incredible setting.
The characters are larger than life let's say, the best element for me was the acting of the ever wonderful Roger Allam.
It feels very disjointed in parts, but overall it's definitely worth your time, the dialogue is wonderful at times.
Worth seeing, 7/10.
A terrific adaption.
Condensing Stephen Fry's mammoth story into a 90 minute film cannot have been an easy task, with its bulging cast list and wealth of set-pieces, but director John Jencks makes a good fist of it.
I'm not sure anyone other than Fry himself could do justice to the role of Ted Wallace, or at least so I thought before watching Roger Allam in the role. Ensuring a jaded, disillusioned, permanently bad tempered alcoholic is so likeable must have been tricky, but it works here. In fact most of the characters as written, are distinctly dislikeable - or perhaps flawed would be a better word. If they were not, they wouldn't be so interesting, or the story so entertaining. Bringing Wallace's endless tirade of expletives to life so hilariously is done as well as it could possibly be.
It's true to say that, with so many characters, some are distinctly under-written and don't feature quite as heavily as they might, but as far as I remember from the book, no relevant scene has been excised, and no character has been forgotten.
Greatly entertaining. My score is 8 out of 10.