I don't know how this got financed - it's such a mixed bag. The plot of Oliver Platt being in the shadow of his comedian father superstar and being connected to his lost other family in Blackpool is interesting, but the way he reconnects with them is annoyingly undeveloped. The insane brothers and their ghost train and house with its tilted camera angles is a bit much. Lee Evans... there's something both amazing and annoying about him, and I'm not sure being perched on top of a pole is funny - it's skilful and acrobatic like a monkey. The plot about the eggs containing rejuvenating powder (cocaine?), the Frenchman's feet and Oliver Reed is just a load of nonsense. (Though the scene in the mortuary is funny.)
Blackpool locations used well. The acts they review are hilarious. That Evans has killed a performer on stage casts a weird and unpleasant shadow.
So yes, I can't really unscramble these eggs and conclude it's an interesting failure.
Good role for Leslie Caron as the mother. With Jerry Lewis, Freddie Davis and George Carl (brothers), Richard Griffiths, Ian McNeice, Christopher Greet good as booker, Ruta Lee.
Eduardo Serra on camera, Martin Walsh edited, John Altman music.
Chelsom (incidentally, was born in Blackpool) made the much better Hector and the Search for Happiness and the less successful Serendipity.
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