Home :: DVD :: Television  

A&E Home Video
BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
French & Saunders: At the Movies

French & Saunders: At the Movies

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: must experience!
Review: I have just become a fan of French and Saunders after having watched this dvd at a friends home. I thought they were very funny. I only wish they were on tv in the States.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Time-sensitive material??
Review: I really like Jennifer Saunders in "Absolutely Fabulous" and love Dawn French as "The Vicar of Dilby" but did not find this set of spoofs by the two actresses as entertaining as their later series. For an evening of mild entertainment for the average Anglophile, one can't beat the price, however, and while these episodes are not the best these two actresses have done, on their worst nights they are far funnier than most current U.S. sitcoms (and there are no commercial interruptions!).

The "take-offs" included in this DVD remind me of the old "Saturday Night Live" episodes on U.S. tv. You had to be of the times to fully appreciate the humor. Episodes built on current events have a way of becoming rapidly dated. For example, the scenes involving discussions by two "royals-watchers" of Fergie, Lady Di, and Dodi Fayed made me feel a bit sad although they were probably very funny at the time.

Several U.S. movies are spoofed, as was noted elsewhere -- "Misery" "Thelma and Louise" "Aliens" and "Silence of the Lambs" but I did not see the others mentioned by the British reviewer. Perhaps the British and U.S. versions of this DVD differ? The soap opera spoof of the Collins sisters (Jackie and Joan--where they really sisters?) and "The House of Elliot" ("House of Idiots") were quite good. I watched bits of "The House of Elliot" but could never get into it and now I know why. I usually love period pieces, but sometimes they are a bit much.

All in all, this is a good buy, especially if you are interested in the early works of two very gifted British actresses. Jennifer Saunders has to have one of the most plastic faces around and in some ways her talents as an actress exceed her talents as a commedienne and writer.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Time-sensitive material??
Review: I really like Jennifer Saunders in "Absolutely Fabulous" and love Dawn French as "The Vicar of Dilby" but did not find this set of spoofs by the two actresses as entertaining as their later series. For an evening of mild entertainment for the average Anglophile, one can't beat the price, however, and while these episodes are not the best these two actresses have done, on their worst nights they are far funnier than most current U.S. sitcoms (and there are no commercial interruptions!).

The "take-offs" included in this DVD remind me of the old "Saturday Night Live" episodes on U.S. tv. You had to be of the times to fully appreciate the humor. Episodes built on current events have a way of becoming rapidly dated. For example, the scenes involving discussions by two "royals-watchers" of Fergie, Lady Di, and Dodi Fayed made me feel a bit sad although they were probably very funny at the time.

Several U.S. movies are spoofed, as was noted elsewhere -- "Misery" "Thelma and Louise" "Aliens" and "Silence of the Lambs" but I did not see the others mentioned by the British reviewer. Perhaps the British and U.S. versions of this DVD differ? The soap opera spoof of the Collins sisters (Jackie and Joan--where they really sisters?) and "The House of Elliot" ("House of Idiots") were quite good. I watched bits of "The House of Elliot" but could never get into it and now I know why. I usually love period pieces, but sometimes they are a bit much.

All in all, this is a good buy, especially if you are interested in the early works of two very gifted British actresses. Jennifer Saunders has to have one of the most plastic faces around and in some ways her talents as an actress exceed her talents as a commedienne and writer.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: O.K., but this is no AbFab
Review: If you buy this tape expecting the in-your-face, razor sharp wit Saunders displayed in Absolutely Fabulous you will be very dissapointed. This is more dry, ironic 'British' type humor: clever but not FUNNY.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very funny stuff!
Review: Loved the take-offs of such movies as, Aliens, Misery and especially, Silence of the Lambs! Kudos to French & Saunders for their irreverent, and sometimes vicious view of movies and actors that take themselves seriously, in movies that are anything but!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More brilliance from the greatest female comedy duo
Review: Sometimes French and Saunders are so dry you almost miss the joke, but at other times they're hilariously over-the-top. Most of the time, though, they're spot on, making you laugh at things you never knew would be funny. Though there are many superb movie parodies in this video, it's at its funniest when the two of them are just being themselves, having a (hilariously) intense conversation about Princess Di's superiority to Fergie. Even better, though, may be their genius parody of the life story of the Collins sisters, Jackie and Joan: Dawn, as Jackie, seems capable of moving only her lower lip, while Joan brings the same combination of glassiness and near-hysteria to everything from being offered the lead role in DYNASTY ("Aaron who?" she intones into the phone, blankly) to lusting after "that cheeky, clownish, Cockney fellow" Anthony Newley.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious Spoof of Hollywood Blockbusters--Bellylaughs!
Review: The British Comedy Super-Duo (icons in their own land, near obscure in the US) is fantastic in spoofing Hollywood Mega-Hits like "Misery" and "Thelma & Louise". The exaggerations of well-known "catch phrases" and scenes from these hit movies are hilarious. Watch for a "surprise" when "Thelma & Louise" near their destination and you see (I won't give it away) something that is obvious, yet belly-laugh funny when you actually see it, since the camera always cleverly hides this.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are wonderful, working as a team rivaling Laurel & Hardy or Lemmon & Matthau. They are totally "in sync" no matter what the characters they are portraying. British humor may indeed be "unique" and different from American humor, but ANYBODY can see the genious comedy in this DVD. Five Stars for laughs galore!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have.....
Review: The Guns and Roses segment was priceless...I will never watch "Silence of the Lambs" the same again after the humour that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders put into it... These 2 women are extremely talented and beyond funny....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must have.....
Review: The Guns and Roses segment was priceless...I will never watch "Silence of the Lambs" the same again after the humour that Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders put into it... These 2 women are extremely talented and beyond funny....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dated but still hillarious
Review: This DVD is wonderful. It has all the sketches I remember from the early 90's plus a huge amount of bonus footage; Star Wars Movie sketches. Alot of the humor relates to British things like a sketch making fun of a famous tights (panty ho's) commerical. Or my personal favourite, House of Idiot.
Any one who remembers the "House of Eliott" will love this one. To top that off, three of the cast from House of Eliott make an appearance (Bea, Evy and Tilly)
I watched this with my little sister and she didn't get much of it at all as it's so dated and related to current events of the time it was made.
Still worth watching though!!


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates