Having accidentally given a parking ticket to the Queen, traffic wardens Eric and Ernie decide that it is a good time to get away for a while and decide to take a holiday in the south of France. Arriving at the airport, the two are unwittingly selected by a gang of criminals to be used as patsies in a daring robbery of valuable jewels. The gang plan to hide the jewels on the pairs' car to get them out of the country unsuspected. With the gang guiding their every move, Eric and Ernie are seemingly unaware of the situation they find themselves in.
In the UK as with the US, small screen comedians will inevitably be given a shot at big screen success and forty odd years ago was no different, with Morecambe and Wise being given several bites at the cherry of which this film was the second. As with all their films, the material is just not up to scratch either in terms of plotting or in terms of laughs. The plot sees them involved in a crime caper but it is so badly handled that you never really care about what is happening or who is doing what to whom. This wouldn't have been a major problem if the film had been funny enough to cover it but it really isn't. There are few funny routines and mostly the film just seems to have a very basic script that relies on the abilities of its stars to make something out of nothing.
Of course when you are talking about Morecambe and Wise then it is rare that they will do nothing right and thus they manage to get some laughs even with little or no help from the material. Morecambe was always the funniest of the pair and he brings his stage personae to this film really well he is responsible for poor material being funny and although this is miles away from their best, he and Ern deserve praise for preventing this being awful. Wise enjoys himself and gets laughs, showing that he is not just a straight man; he even gets to sing something that Eric would never have let him get away with on the small screen! The support cast are all pretty poor, with none making an impression but I suppose the focus is on the stars.
Overall this is a poor film and is not the place to come to experience M&W at their best in fact all of their films should be ignored if this is what you are looking for. The material is poor and the film is not very funny at all and it is only the talent of Eric and Ernie that prevent it from being a total waste of time.
In the UK as with the US, small screen comedians will inevitably be given a shot at big screen success and forty odd years ago was no different, with Morecambe and Wise being given several bites at the cherry of which this film was the second. As with all their films, the material is just not up to scratch either in terms of plotting or in terms of laughs. The plot sees them involved in a crime caper but it is so badly handled that you never really care about what is happening or who is doing what to whom. This wouldn't have been a major problem if the film had been funny enough to cover it but it really isn't. There are few funny routines and mostly the film just seems to have a very basic script that relies on the abilities of its stars to make something out of nothing.
Of course when you are talking about Morecambe and Wise then it is rare that they will do nothing right and thus they manage to get some laughs even with little or no help from the material. Morecambe was always the funniest of the pair and he brings his stage personae to this film really well he is responsible for poor material being funny and although this is miles away from their best, he and Ern deserve praise for preventing this being awful. Wise enjoys himself and gets laughs, showing that he is not just a straight man; he even gets to sing something that Eric would never have let him get away with on the small screen! The support cast are all pretty poor, with none making an impression but I suppose the focus is on the stars.
Overall this is a poor film and is not the place to come to experience M&W at their best in fact all of their films should be ignored if this is what you are looking for. The material is poor and the film is not very funny at all and it is only the talent of Eric and Ernie that prevent it from being a total waste of time.