The movie was created as a hybrid of 1940-1950's Ealing comedy and later Monty Python-type silliness. The combination didn't quite work as intended.
I went to see it in the theater because of all the praise the movie got, but when I saw it, it had some laughs but it was less funny than I had come to expect. The movie's main joke is about the culture clash between the loud, overaggressive Americans versus the over-mannered, comatose Britons, but the stereotypes are so exaggerated they are more irritating than funny.
The movie is somewhat redeemed by the scenes with Cleese and Curtis, but the other leads resort to overacting, which in itself is not very funny. As a crime drama, it's not particularly clever either. I was glad to see it once, but I wouldn't bother again.
I went to see it in the theater because of all the praise the movie got, but when I saw it, it had some laughs but it was less funny than I had come to expect. The movie's main joke is about the culture clash between the loud, overaggressive Americans versus the over-mannered, comatose Britons, but the stereotypes are so exaggerated they are more irritating than funny.
The movie is somewhat redeemed by the scenes with Cleese and Curtis, but the other leads resort to overacting, which in itself is not very funny. As a crime drama, it's not particularly clever either. I was glad to see it once, but I wouldn't bother again.