THE MOVIE

Richie and Eddie run The Guest House Paradiso, the worst hotel in the world. Located on a lonely, windswept cliff right next door to a nuclear power station the hotel is so bad even the peasants in the nearby village deny its existence. Needless to say with a location and reputation like that it is not surprising that the hotel always has vacancies. It is the kind of place that people might come to hide out, and indeed things start looking up when an Italian movie star decides to hide in the hotel to avoid marrying her fiancée.

It is difficult to describe the story of this film because essentially it has none. Yet despite it's lack of a strong story it is still an enjoyable film. Richie and Eddie, played excellently by Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson (of Young Ones fame), do their best to keep the hotel running, running about dealing with a series of sticky situations. (The characters are based on those created by Mayall and Edmondson for the television series Bottom.) And basically that is what the whole film, Richie and Eddie bouncing from situation to situation, gag to gag.

This film is never going to win any big awards, nor is it going to go down in history as a great piece of cinema, yet it was never supposed to, so to judge it thusly would be unfair. The film is funny, particularly for fans of Mayall and Edmondson, and contains many of the elements that made Bottom and The Young Ones so successful. Even if you're not a fan you will still find things about this film that you'll like. Just remember that it isn't supposed to be serious it's just a bit of fun, and you should have a good time with it.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Just let me make a note before I start this section. The cover for this DVD proclaims the film as having a 1.85:1 aspect ratio and DD 2.0 surround. Yet in actual fact it is in 2.35:1 aspect ratio with DD 5.1 surround sound.

As I just mentioned the film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. The transfer is very clean and clear of any blemishes or dirt. Colors are strong and vibrant and never bleed during the film. When I was watching the film I thought the colors were perhaps muted but then I noticed that most of the film's colors are blacks, browns and greys. Very drab colors. You only need to look at the reds and blues to see what a good color transfer this film actually has. There is a lot of black in this film and that comes across strongly on the DVD. No detail is lost and the blacks are always true and deep. This is a very nice transfer which, although at times seemingly a little soft, is still very good.

Audio:

The disc features a DD 5.1 surround track. Like the visual presentation this is also good. There is good separation between the speakers, and dialogue is always easy to hear. There isn't much use made of the surrounds, but as this film is set mostly inside that is to be expected. Surprisingly the subwoofer got a nice workout, and the fight scene in the kitchen is a good example of this, with each punch reverberating through it. This is a good solid audio presentation that is everything you need for this film. Oh and experiencing vomit in surround sound is something else!

THE EXTRAS

Surprisingly there are a few interesting extra features on this disc. Normally films that aren't received very well at the cinemas slip through without anything on them. So it is good to see this disc with some extra features, for after all that is one of the things that makes DVD stand out.

The main feature on the DVD is a 36 minute making of documentary. This documentary contains a good balance of interviews with the cast as well as on set footage, and it doesn't feature a lot of finished film footage. This documentary is very interesting as it shows many of the tricks used during the making of the film so as to save money. Including saying lines backwards and then reversing the film. A very good addition to the disc.

There is also a series of outtakes from the film. These show various cast members fluffing their lines, slipping in vomit and basically just goofing around.

Trailers and some DVDROM games round out the release.

SUMMARY

An entertaining and very enjoyable film is preserved forever (I fear it may disappear everywhere else) on a good DVD. Whilst not a stellar release it is everything you need for a film of this nature.