X
- 1992
- PG-13
- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- 1 h 41 m
- 1992
- PG-13
- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- 1 h 41 m
Summary A travelling theater group find so much action going on behind-the-scenes, they almost ruin the performances.
Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich
Written By: Michael Frayn, Marty Kaplan
- 1992
- PG-13
- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- 1 h 41 m
- 1992
- PG-13
- Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
- 1 h 41 m
Noises Off...
65
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary A travelling theater group find so much action going on behind-the-scenes, they almost ruin the performances.
Directed By: Peter Bogdanovich
Written By: Michael Frayn, Marty Kaplan
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
41% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
9% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
41% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
9% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Peter Bogdanovich's brilliant direction (on a par with his classic comedy, ''What's Up, Doc?'') has brought a successful adaptation of a stage farce to the screen, conquered the problems of the play-within-a-play format and most important, has lost almost none of the laughs of Michael Frayn's original play. As a result, ''Noises Off'' brings laughter from start to finish because Bogdanovich has captured the essence of physical farce and blended it perfectly with superlative comic dialogue. [24 March 1992, p.4D]
The movie, when it finally gets going, is funny. At times it's hysterical. The great discovery about Noises Off is how tried and tested Frayn's basic formula is. The physical, verbal and situation comedy is universal, no matter who the performers. What counts in this ensemble production is the collective choreography, the great farce machine. In the movie, everyone, Reeve included, more than plays his part.
Burnett is probably the most interesting here, but not by much. John Ritter is fun, Marilu Henner is sexy enough to hold her own even while Nicollette Sheridan, who is lovely, colts about the stage in lingerie. Julie Hagerty, as a steadily more nervous stage manager, is the scariest and funniest; Denholm Elliott, the barely reformed boozer who chases every bottle that turns up backstage (and many, many do), is a hoot...The whole thing vibrates with its dark possibilities: Utter humiliation awaits at every turn. Bogdanovich's movie doesn't move at the speed of the live performances of Noises Off that I have seen -- I'm not sure it could, without sacrificing comprehension. But it moves fast enough. If you can't laugh at Noises Off, you're just not mean enough. [21 March 1992, p.E1]
The performers all seem to be relishing this sendup, but we're always aware that it is a vehicle better suited to the stage. In trying to open it up some for the screen, Bogdanovich and scriptwriter Marty Kaplan have presented the original play as a series of flashbacks that come upon Caine as he sweats out the play's Broadway opening. All this does is slow the opening and delay the close.
It's not that Bogdanovich's movie doesn't have its laughs. It does. Frayn has a comic genius that is expansive -- he can pile one-liners, character humor and physical schtick on top of one another quickly and deftly. And the cast Bogdanovich has assembled, led by Michael Caine as the embattled director, is up to the demands. But a film version of a play about making a play? That's a step removed. It's a blanket that muffles the crispness of the play. A bridge too far. The mediation of the screen between us and the play about a play is unnecessary at best and a real bother at worst. [23 March 1992, p.C08]
The charm of the film is that's it's so clever a play, but that cleverness wears thin quickly.
Noisy and (nearly) awful, Noises Off is the sort of movie that gives filmed theater a bad name. Based on Michael Frayn's popular, Tony-nominated play, the screen version is so lame that even without having seen a stage production of the material I can tell that the film doesn't do it justice.
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Production Company
Touchstone Pictures,
Amblin Entertainment,
Touchwood Pacific Partners 1,
Nothing On Productions
Release Date Mar 20, 1992
Duration 1 h 41 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline The comedy where everyone gets caught in the act!
Awards
Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
