American Friends Movie Review 1991

Genteel story masquerades as high comedy. Palin is a fussy middle-aged Oxford classics tutor. On a holiday he meets American Hartley (Booth) and her adopted daughter, Elinor (Alvarado). Both women are immensely attracted to the don (for reasons that are unclear) and follow him back to Oxford, where he's engaged in a battle of succession with his rival Molina. Dismal screenplay lacks logic and urgency, making it difficult to care about the story or the characters. Script is said to have been inspired by an incident in the life of Palin's great-grandfather. If this sounds like your cup of tea, save your time and watch a Merchant Ivory film instead.

Distribution

Facets Multimedia, Inc., 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, Phone: (773)281-9075, Toll-free: 800-331-6197, Fax: (773)929-5437, Email: sales@facets.org, URL: http://www.facets.org

Available on VHS
Running time 95 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Romantic Comedy, Great Britain, School Daze

Screenplay

Michael Palin, Tristam Powell

Cast

Michael Palin, Connie Booth, Trini Alvarado, Alfred Molina

Director

Tristam Powell

Music

Georges Delerue

Producer

Castle Hill Productions