Anyone else, either side of the Atlantic, seen this? If so, what do you reckon?
I was a little disappointed. His early career, in particular his work with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe (and Michael Bentine) was rather swept under the carpet. True, there was a scene at the beginning which attempted to show a Goon Show but it was all wrong: the impression was that the show was broadcast live on the radio - a bloke held up a sign saying “Applause, please” and a red light flashed “ON-AIR” whereas, as any fule kno, the shows were recorded, usually on a Sunday, edited, then broadcast later in the week. Milligan and Secombe appear twice again in the film but I didn’t notice them saying a word.
Emily Watson plays the role of Sellers’s first wife, Anne, extremely well and Charlize Theron is really good (much better than I thought she’d be!) as Britt Ekland. Of his other two wives, Lynn Frederick is merely a note at the end (despite scenes apparently having been filmed with Emilia Fox playing her) and Miranda Quarry is nowhere to be see - no change there, then.
Miriam Margolyes is OK as his mother, Peg, but, I dunno, she didn’t quite seem Jewish enough…
Which brings me to Geoffrey Rush as Sellers himself. A fine actor, no doubt. But I remained absolutely unconvinced throughout the film. He could not even do a passable Bluebottle impression. There was just a fleeting moment, about three-quarters the way into the film, when he looked like Sellers but otherwise he looked, well, exactly like Geoffrey Rush. I have no idea who else should have ahd the part. Maybe it would have been better to have had an unknown?
My opinions, of course, aren’t worth thruppence. But I’d welcome some debate.