Another very funny book by Westlake (which I wish there was a movie of) is “Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner”.
A neurotic practical joker gets sent to prison and finds himself situated with a group of cons who have dug a tunnel out of the prison. But they don’t use it to escape - that would make them wanted fugitives (and the older ones are too institutionalized to even want out). Instead they remain in prison, but use the tunnel to commute to the outside world at will. Some of them spend time with their families; one guy holds down a part-time job at a grocery store. It’s basically “The Shawshank Redemption” starring the Marx Brothers.
Agreed—and the pacing wasn’t…bad…just very, very weird. The 20 minutes locked in the closet trying to use the magnet to get the key was just…bizarre. Not bad…just bizarre. But the Hepburn/O’Toole chemistry was great. I’d have loved to see a sequel.
I think Colin Firth has appeared in some of the very finest movies ever made. But most of them are not comedies. Most are serious dramas. Kingsman: The Secret Service is another exception. It was extremely funny. Also, he made two movies about a school called “Trinians” and they were both real good too.
Hmmm … I guess I have to take back what I just wrote. Colin Firth may be known mostly for his wonderful dramas. But he has also starred in some very excellent comedies as well.
Gambit (2012) was a comedy he starred in together with Cameron Diaz.
I really enjoyed it. It was not the kind of comedy that most American audiences usually like. The humor was very dry and it was aimed at a very refined audience.
I would like to recommend Gambit to anyone who is looking for a first rate comedy movie. It is a British comedy and I hope you all know what that means you should expect. The humor is dry - very dry. But if you like Britcoms, I expect you will like this film very much. I sure did.
I would just like to say that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is my most favorite comedy film ever made. It was as close to perfection as a comedy film could ever get. At least IMO, it was as close to perfection as I could ever imagine.