Product: Plunkett & Macleane
Rating: 5.0
Highly amusing, but don't expect accuracy.
The first time I saw this film, I was deeply confused. Just what was up with the costumes? And the music? The second time through, when I actually watched the screen instead of the sewing machine, it made so much more sense. Aha! They weren't goign for accuracy at all! I can go with this, support it even, despite the fact that I am one of the biggest costume snobs I've ever met. Just go with it.The biggest thing I noticed was that the only ones that got the seriously wrong costumes were the highest, smartest set, the ones that knew the rules and broke every one of them. In every part of their lives. I actually saw it as a way of pointing out to a population that probably would have seen truly accurate costume as merely quaint or stuffy, and that was not the attitude these people had. So you add a few modern touches, and really, it doesn't detract from the general mood they're trying to convey.The same thing kind of applies to the music, but you know, it's really just a good soundtrack. Apparently, baroque and techno can do quite well together, and have a lot of fun in the process. I'm still upset that the jail scene song isn't on the CD though.I find it deeply, terrribly funny that Alan Cummings' part bore the name of Rochester. The only other infamous Rochester I can think of was a 17th century poet who wrote the dirtiest, most obscene, most openly bi-sexual lyrics I've read that date to before the 20th century. So the eyebrow piercing was maybe a little much, but hey, it looked just swell on him with those incredible coats.Plot? Who needs plot? Seriously though, there was one. It's just a very, very common one. Think Robin Hood, or pirates, or simply highwaymen. They all have the same plot, and it never goes out of style. There's a reason for that--it's all great fun, and sometimes you get a moral, sometimes you don't, and sometimes they dance the Tyburn Jig and all the pretty ladies weep. It all amounts to the same thing.The point is always just to have fun, and a good laugh.