Rating: 
Summary: Elephant!
Review: One of the best comedies of the 80's. Whether it slipped under the public's radar or was simply a victim of poor marketing is up for debate, but "The Tall Guy" should be required viewing for romantic comedy buffs. Deftly directed by British TV comic Mel Smith with a high-brow/low-brow blend of sophisticated cleverness and riotous vulgarity (somehow he makes it work), this is the stuff cult followings are made of. The perfect cast features Jeff Goldblum as an American actor working on the London stage who is lovestruck by English nurse Emma Thompson (in her most uninhibited performance). Rowan Atkinson is so convincing as Goldblum's employer, a London stage comic beloved by his audience but an absolute backstage terror to cast and crew, that one suspects our lovable "Mr. Bean" really IS a nasty, arrogant, egomaniac off-screen. The most hilariously choreographed scene of "wild sex" ever put on film (featuring Goldblum and Thompson) is worth the price of admission alone, and the extended set-piece, a staged musical version of the "Elephant Man" (a mercilessly funny Andrew Lloyd Webber parody) begs comparisons to "The Producers". Seek this one out.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth watching for the ingenious West End/Broadway satire
Review: Overall, this is enjoyable and amusing. Goldblum plays a struggling American actor, Dexter King, in the West End of London, who finds himself out of work when he is sacked from his job as straight man to comedian Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson). He finds love, however, in the person of Kate Lemmon (whose name could have been worse, suggests Goldblum: Hitler or Tampon, for example), played by Emma Thompson. None of this, however, is worth parting with your hard-earned cash. Where the film really scores is in its hilarious satire on West End/Broadway musicals. Failing actor Dexter King lands the role of John Merrick in the National Theatre's latest sensation, Elephant!, the musical based on the story of the Elephant Man. There follows a brilliant parody of those smash-hit musicals churned out by the likes of Lloyd-Webber and Charles Schoenberg. The mock production has all the authenticity of a Les Miserables or a Cats. The combination of startling plausibility and utter absurdity is inspired. The Elephant! sequences stand out, turning an otherwise pleasurable but ordinary movie into a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: Early work from Curtis the movie scriptwriter
Review: Richard Curtis, eventual architect of 'Four Weddings', 'Notting Hill', 'Love Actually' and bits of 'Bridget Jones', kicked off his filmwriting career with this 1989 debut. It shows its youthfulness. Just as 'Four Weddings' had at its core a string of sketches based on weddings Curtis had attended (but very skillfully linked by a romantic story), so 'The Tall Guy' appears to have started with the idea of a pastiche musical based on the Elephant Man, around which Curtis wraps a romance between a supporting actor and a nurse. Curtis's great buddy from Oxford, Rowan Atkinson, is brought in to play a control-freak comedian -- no type-casting there, then -- but there are a few ex-Cambridge people too: Emma Thompson, Mel Smith etc. Jeff Goldblum is good as the lead, but there's no evidence that the script was specially written for him in particular or an American in general. This film is perhaps now best known for the slapstick sex scene between Thompson and Goldblum, which manages to be (slightly) erotic while also revealing a basic truth about the domestic tidiness of all nurses I have known. Many of the standard Curtis plot elements appear in a formative stage for this film: the early sexual encounter, followed by the break-up, followed by a finale in which the protagonists make a grand declaration of true love in front of a large crowd, the pop video sequence etc etc. I suspect this is now a budget-priced DVD because Curtis is slightly embarrassed by it. But it's 88 enjoyable minutes of good, largely clean fun. As ever, Emma Thompson is the most convincing actor on the screen. Fifteen years on, she talks frankly about her varicose veins and growing old. It's probably handy to have a film which she can now show her children and say "This is what I used to look like before anything drooped." Soon after making this, Curtis co-wrote the brilliant 'Blackadder Goes Forth' series for Rowan and friends, which was one of the comic masterpieces of the 1980s. Clearly outstanding at TV scriptwriting, Curtis may have felt after 'The Tall Guy' that he hadn't proved himself on the movie screen. But the movies were where the real money was (for writers), and five years later, Curtis perfected the formula with 'Four Weddings'.
Rating:
Summary: Early work from Curtis the movie scriptwriter
Review: Richard Curtis, eventual architect of 'Four Weddings', 'Notting Hill', 'Love Actually' and bits of 'Bridget Jones', kicked off his filmwriting career with this 1989 debut. It shows its youthfulness. Just as 'Four Weddings' had at its core a string of sketches based on weddings Curtis had attended (but very skillfully linked by a romantic story), so 'The Tall Guy' appears to have started with the idea of a pastiche musical based on the Elephant Man, around which Curtis wraps a romance between a supporting actor and a nurse. Curtis's great buddy from Oxford, Rowan Atkinson, is brought in to play a control-freak comedian -- no type-casting there, then -- but there are a few ex-Cambridge people too: Emma Thompson, Mel Smith etc. Jeff Goldblum is good as the lead, but there's no evidence that the script was specially written for him in particular or an American in general. This film is perhaps now best known for the slapstick sex scene between Thompson and Goldblum, which manages to be (slightly) erotic while also revealing a basic truth about the domestic tidiness of all nurses I have known. Many of the standard Curtis plot elements appear in a formative stage for this film: the early sexual encounter, followed by the break-up, followed by a finale in which the protagonists make a grand declaration of true love in front of a large crowd, the pop video sequence etc etc. I suspect this is now a budget-priced DVD because Curtis is slightly embarrassed by it. But it's 88 enjoyable minutes of good, largely clean fun. As ever, Emma Thompson is the most convincing actor on the screen. Fifteen years on, she talks frankly about her varicose veins and growing old. It's probably handy to have a film which she can now show her children and say "This is what I used to look like before anything drooped." Soon after making this, Curtis co-wrote the brilliant 'Blackadder Goes Forth' series for Rowan and friends, which was one of the comic masterpieces of the 1980s. Clearly outstanding at TV scriptwriting, Curtis may have felt after 'The Tall Guy' that he hadn't proved himself on the movie screen. But the movies were where the real money was (for writers), and five years later, Curtis perfected the formula with 'Four Weddings'.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical!
Review: THE TALL GUY has been a favorite of mine for years. I take great pride in being a fan of this "guilty pleasure" film! I try to turn people onto it as often as possible. THE TALL GUY, first and foremost, is very British in its humor, which means there is irony, surrealism, and jokes that don't depend on insults (Americans *love* the insult-joke). THE TALL GUY has the funniest sex scene (Goldblum and Thompson) that I've ever seen. And as others have mentioned, the ELEPHANT! musical is hysterical. I cried the first time I saw the musical numbers ... it's that hilarious. At heart, THE TALL GUY is a sweet romance. But its British sensibilities and backstage humor (Goldblum's character is an underdog actor) lifts it above an average screwball comedy. And Emma Thompson is very charming as Nurse Kate! One forgets after all of her serious Shakespeare and Jane Austin roles that she is quite a comedienne. So enjoy THE TALL GUY! And remember: "Somewhere up in heaven there's an angel with big ears."
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical!
Review: THE TALL GUY has been a favorite of mine for years. I take great pride in being a fan of this "guilty pleasure" film! I try to turn people onto it as often as possible. THE TALL GUY, first and foremost, is very British in its humor, which means there is irony, surrealism, and jokes that don't depend on insults (Americans *love* the insult-joke). THE TALL GUY has the funniest sex scene (Goldblum and Thompson) that I've ever seen. And as others have mentioned, the ELEPHANT! musical is hysterical. I cried the first time I saw the musical numbers ... it's that hilarious. At heart, THE TALL GUY is a sweet romance. But its British sensibilities and backstage humor (Goldblum's character is an underdog actor) lifts it above an average screwball comedy. And Emma Thompson is very charming as Nurse Kate! One forgets after all of her serious Shakespeare and Jane Austin roles that she is quite a comedienne. So enjoy THE TALL GUY! And remember: "Somewhere up in heaven there's an angel with big ears."
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT, BUY THE CANADIAN VERSION OF THIS DVD!!!
Review: There are actually two versions of this film available, one is 92 minutes long and the other is 85 minutes long. Now, which do you think would be the better film? Well, the US destributer of this film is Disney and they've put out the 92 minute version, and in Canada, the distributer is Alliance, and you can guess which version they put out. Yep, the "TRANCED" 85 minute version. I happen to live in Canada, and when I saw the movie on DVD at my local shop, I scooped it up without thinking that this might be the wrong vertion. Of course, now that I am aware that the Canadain version [stinks] (the missing 7 minutes are a lot of funny bits that for no real reason, where cut out) and can't get a refund, as this stupid shop only gives out credit notes, I've ordered the right version off of Amazon, and I want to let others know of this injustes to such a funny and quirky little film, that Alliance has allowed to take place in Canada... So, if you want to buy this movie and live in Canada, then you'll have to order it from the States. As for the movie itself, I first saw it on TV late one night (in the 92 minute version) and loved it so much that I went out and rented it on video a few days later. But of course this was that awful 85 minute version. I mean, there are lead up to punch lines that never happen (in the begining of the movie, Jeff Goldblum is at his apartment, which he shares with an over sexed, and a bit inconsiderate, female friend, and is making himself a glass of OJ by pouring the remaining drips of several empty OJ containers, that he finds all over the apartment, into a glass. And just as he's managed to make the glass half full, he's distracted by one of his roomates naked boyfriends, entering the kitchen. He puts down the glass, which his room mate ends up drinking on him. It's a funny seen in the 92 min. version, but in the 85 min. one, she never drinks the juice, but we still see Jeff seraching the apartment for juice containers to drain into the glass. Also, funny Rowen Atkinson bits are cut out of the 85 min. version) I eventually found a place renting the 92 minute version, so that's how I know about the two different versions. So, if you're a big fan of quirky comedy, Rowan Atkinson, or have ever wanted to see Emma Thompson... (yep, she has a funny nude seen) then this movie's a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film! Missing Minutes, though
Review: There are actually two versions of this film available, one is 92 minutes long and the other is 85 minutes long. Now, which do you think would be the better film? Well, unfortunately, the version that was put to DVD is the tranced 85 minute version :( As for the movie itself, I first saw it on TV late one night (in the 92 minute version) and loved it so much that I went out and rented it on video a few days later. But of course this was that awful 85 minute version. I mean, there are lead up to punch lines that never happen (in the begining of the movie, Jeff Goldblum is at his apartment, which he shares with an over sexed, and a bit inconsiderate, female friend, and is making himself a glass of OJ by pouring the remaining drips of several empty OJ containers, that he finds all over the apartment, into a glass. And just as he's managed to make the glass half full, he's distracted by one of his roomates naked boyfriends, entering the kitchen. He puts down the glass, which his room mate ends up drinking on him. It's a funny sceen in the 92 min. version, but in the 85 min. one, she never drinks the juice, but we still see Jeff seraching the apartment for juice containers to drain into the glass. Also, funny, Rowen Atkinson, bits, are cut out of the 85 min. version. But, if you're a big fan of quirky comedy, Rowan Atkinson, or have ever wanted to see Emma Thompson in the buff... (yep, she has a funny nude sceen) then this movie's still a must have DVD (that is, unless you can find the 92 minute video, then you might want to go for that instead). It just STINKS, that the distributors didn?t bother to put in the effort to track down a print of the FAR superior 92 minute version, to put to DVD? :(
Rating:
Summary: Standing tall!
Review: When I first saw this movie about 10 years ago, the primary reason was because Emma Thompson starred in it. 10 years later I have watched it again and have found there is an additional reason to view it: it's genuinely FUN! The plot is not overly creative or original, but the film is set in London and is full of laughs. It's a Romantic Comedy - British style! This is one of Jeff Goldblum's earlier movies, before he was a really big name. And if you're looking for women who are beautiful, intelligent AND talented in the acting department, look no further than Emma Thompson! To my knowledge, this film contains her the lone nude scene of her career [although I could be wrong on this one]. That in itself is enough reason to buy this DVD! As Goldblum plays a struggling actor, people in the theatre community will likely get some extra chuckles from this film. However, it's a film that's also recommended for everyone else who enjoys a good RC and it's very couples-friendly. Oh, and did I mention it stars Emma Thompson???
Rating:
Summary: Standing tall!
Review: When I first saw this movie about 10 years ago, the primary reason was because Emma Thompson starred in it. 10 years later I have watched it again and have found there is an additional reason to view it: it's genuinely FUN! The plot is not overly creative or original, but the film is set in London and is full of laughs. It's a Romantic Comedy - British style! This is one of Jeff Goldblum's earlier movies, before he was a really big name. And if you're looking for women who are beautiful, intelligent AND talented in the acting department, look no further than Emma Thompson! To my knowledge, this film contains her the lone nude scene of her career [although I could be wrong on this one]. That in itself is enough reason to buy this DVD! As Goldblum plays a struggling actor, people in the theatre community will likely get some extra chuckles from this film. However, it's a film that's also recommended for everyone else who enjoys a good RC and it's very couples-friendly. Oh, and did I mention it stars Emma Thompson???
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