A Very Leisurely Stroll Through the Park

When stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard did his brilliantly funny bit (from the "Dress to Kill" concert") about movies that feature characters "arranging matches," he was talking about movies like Gosford Park. As he said, a "Room with a View with a Staircase and a Pond type movie. Films with very fine acting but the drama is rather subsued - subsumed? A word like that. Sub-something or another. Just sort of folded in." Oh yeah, that's Gosford Park in a nutshell.

I'd heard good things about the movie. It won an Oscar for Best Screenplay, too. But man, oh man, was it tough to watch. It's nearly two-and-a-half hours, and feels longer still. There is actually a plot to the thing, though the film doesn't actually stumble onto it until it's literally more than half over. Instead, it fills most of its time offering a look at the differences in social classes in 1930s England.

I know. Sounds riveting, doesn't it?

The thing is, the cast is simply stellar, and manages to inject some life into the film even when that supposedly award-worthy script does not. You've got Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Stephen Fry, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Emily Watson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Ryan Phillippe, and on and on. And then there's the director, the respected Robert Altman.

Of course, that right there should be another clue as to what kind of movie this is -- Robert Altman does love an "enormous ensemble cast" movie that isn't so much about a story as it is about a concept. Here, the concept is, look how the rich snobs act, contrasted with their servants slaving away in the quarters below.

The film does have a few interesting things to show within this sort of thesis, but the truly compelling scenes in the film are pretty rare. Most of the time, it just strolls leisurely along, the drama... well... "sub-something or another." I rate Gosford Park a C+. It might be worth it if you want to see a bunch of really good actors all in one place. It's also probably damn useful for making connections while playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. But as entertainment, it comes up rather short.