Fantastically Funny Movie!!

Rating: 1/10 (23 July 2000)

What a great comedy film this is. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much at a movie!
An hilariously inept script, coupled with truly appalling acting (especially Mr Gibson and Mr Ledger) and some quite potty direction make for a surreal and pythonesque experience.
SPOILER
There is one scene where all these factors come together gloriously and in the future I firmly believe it will: A: Top the list of every poll as the funniest scene ever committed to celluloid. or B: Be consigned to some dark corner only to see the light of day at secret drama or film school classes in the lesson entitled 'How NOT to do it'!
The scene is this. Gabriel (Heath Ledger), distraught at the death of his new bride (and several other annoyingly self-righteous do-gooders) rides off with some pals to confront and destroy the evil Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs in an excellently evil performance - if this was X-Men). What follows is a lot of slow-motion killing, a 'don't go over there you fool, he's not really dead!' segment, a gasping for breath, twitching death scene in the arms of a loved one, and the most hilarious reaction acting from Gibson. He spends a couple of minutes trying to look lost in grief and ends up looking like he's chewing a wasp. Dreadful!
As for the rest of the film, nothing really comes close to this scene, although watching Mel fight off the entire British army with only his sideburns and an American flag for assistance is pretty damn funny.
All other characters are woefully underwritten and act as window-dressing only, and that's a shame. The token slave would have made an interesting sub-plot, but he ends up just that, a token slave, and the film makers lack the conviction to tell us anything about him at all.
I suppose a lot of people will expect this movie to be a true and honest portrayal of an important part of american history. If they don't come out of the theatre feeling let down and disappointed I would be amazed.
On the other hand, they might just laugh their 'nads off!