Staggered (1994)

Not as clever as it thinks it is.Nor as funny,unfortunately.Mr Clunes is amiable enough,but it takes more than amiability to carry a whole movie.The best performance by far is from Miss Sylvia Sims as his prospective mother - in - law,oozing with contempt for his,well,amiability,I suppose.He certainly seems to have little enough going for him,until you discover that his 27 year old fiancée must marry by her 28th birthday in order to inherit a £750,000 fortune,a small fact she has kept from him but not her ex and Clunes's best friend and boss,Mr M.Praed. Marooned by Praed on a Scottish island after his stag night,Clunes must find his way home in time for the wedding a few days later. His Odyssey takes him to a police station in Newcastle where he is brutalised by a detective with a Brummy accent(before Geordie became fashionable),a hospital where Miss A.Chancellor's unlikely pathologist for some reason falls in love with him,and the actual wedding where his erstwhile best friend has ousted him in his fiancée's affections. Told in a somewhat arty - crafty style with Clunes as his own videoed Greek Chorus,"Staggered" - stripped of it's pretensions,might have made an amusing 30 minute TV comedy,unfortunately,laden with "symbolism" and trying to prove how clever it is has merely made it rather tedious. Griff Rhys Jones,by the way,is terrible.

This film is a very well made extension of the type of comedy seen in the TV series Men Behaving Badly, albeit with a much better romance.Martin Clunes does a fine job directing and acting. Why he's never done more directing is a mystery. Anna Chancellor is also great. Sadly Michael Praed demonstrates the talents that have kept him off the TV for the best part of a decade - he's as stiff as a tailor's dummy.The film is very funny with an adequate (though not brilliant) plot to hold together the increasingly bizarre episodes that happen to Neil as he finds his way back through the weirdness of modern Britain.Recommended to anyone who likes adult comedy and who wants a different level of entertainment than American Pie and its like.

This movie isn't half bad! It has a great cast including Martin Clunes, Michael Praed and Griff Rhys-Jones (!) There are plenty of funny scenes in this movie although at times they tend to clash with the more serious issues like death etc. Overall I think this is a top British film that has a lot going for it. There were some very funny moments throughout and if you're a fan of any of these actors, it's pretty doubtless that you'll enjoy this. 8/10

A very good effort by Martin Clunes that has been overlooked by a lot of people. Brilliant characterisation and plot, the only drawback was the rather slow plot development at the start. The chemistry between Neil and Carmen was electric. The hope is there will be a sequel