Wow this was bad. So bad. Can’t tell you how much we wanted to turn this off. Mat has actually said he’d rather sit through ‘Forrest Gump’ again than this one!So where to begin? I guess with the beginning which was actually kind of promising. It was quite a slapstick, funny opening, quite different for the times but the occasional witty dialogue and comical situations soon degenerated into a farce that Monty Python would have been embarrassed to produce.
This is a costume/period drama set amongst the English countryside and aristocracy and Tom Jones is the natural child of someone (e.g., illegitimate) who grows into a debaucherous, lecherous tramp. The plot (if we can stretch it to that) is that Tom is set up by the jealous ‘good and true’ son/nephew and kicked out of the manor to traipse around the country side getting into scraps. At one point he even has sex with someone who may or may not be his mother – and that’s not even the most distasteful scene!
The only reason it has scored even in the 20s (Mat = 22, D=24) is because annoyingly Albert Finney who plays Tom is actually really good. Despite the trainwreck of a movie, he displays a great control and presence and doesn’t ham things up like his co-stars. He almost succeeds in making this incredibly unlikeable character sort of likeable.
The other saving grace were elements of the script (that I believe were lifted straight from the book) which were actually very well written and could have produced a decent film if the filmmakers hadn’t decided to make a gyroscopic film version of Benny Hill meets Pride and Prejudice.
Please don’t ever watch this one! No-one else should have to suffer through this piece of poorly executed, insulting, nauseating and discombobulating mess!
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