michaellisher
Hippopotamus is an adaption of a novel written by Stephen Fry, which by credit to whomever chose the cast, became obvious within ten minutes into the film when Ted Wallace, played by Roger Allam, affirmed his character so well as to have an essence of Stephen Fry's grandiloquence emanate through his role. For that reason, this film would certainly be recommended to any fans of Stephen Fry, himself. The quality of which, between the book itself and the film, must forgo to others more competent as book reviewers rather than film, as I, myself, thoroughly enjoyed the more eloquent use of language, as expected from a book, whilst a cast, of whom were capable of the eccentric roles which were required from them, were perfectly matched to the script. Bringing together a film, which by today's standards, is a phenomenal increase in the use of grammar with a visual display to aid the story onto the screen. The story revolves around a supposed miracle of which Ted Wallace (Roger Allam) is employed by Jane Swann (Emily Berrington) to witness for himself but yet opposes throughout. With such opposition, the film becomes an Agatha Christie Poirot mystery with all the clues just need piecing together to figure out if indeed this was a film, as one would watch at Christmas, with all the miracles of hope and joy, or if, by going against the grain of human emotion, reason and logic would succeed to answer the inexplicable. Much to my disappointment was that a search for more adaptations of Stephens Frys books led to zero.
drhall-672-138129
The Best Movie you will see this year ... maybe, ever. Mystery movie, comedy, philosophy, how often does this caliber of film come along? Not a single wasted line, not a single flop character, this script has something for everyone. Intellectual Entertainment film has become a rare commodity, tight well written scripts, impeccable line direction and cast delivered lines accompanied by spot-on timing have become a thing of the past. Photography is perfect. I don't give tens ... This is a ten.
ferdinand1932
What a demonstration of Fry's weaknesses as a writer: the quasi-Evelyn Waugh story; the undergraduate reflections on life and love; the vulgarity to shock and seek a laugh. The terrible news is that this is not funny at all, not even wrily in and English with a gin and tonic bone-dry drollness funny: in fact, it's witless and boring. But it's worse than that: it is a lousy pastiche of a third rate 1930s novel written by some forgotten hack who went to a minor public school and then never published another book. Hence the cheap and common jibes about writing and publishing, mostly true too, but nonetheless dull as the proverbial ditch water to hear served up again.The film adds a voice over to give the audience the musings and assorted drunken drivel from the author protagonist, who is a crumpled forgettable middle-aged man of no discernible attributes. The plot tests the audiences' patience and good humor with its series of jokes about emissions deliberately designed to upset sensitive aunties. It wastes the talents of all involved and must be considered an elaborate tax avoidance scheme conceived in order to lose money.
