This is a very funny movie, with a few semi-scary moments, that I can highly recommend to you. Please ignore the critics on this one, folks, they are way off. The pious Peter Gallagher and temptress Jennifer Tilly are terrific in supporting roles as are the remainder of the cast, who are mainly from Dublin's Abbey Theatre, except for Connie Booth (who played the housekeeper Polly Shearman in Fawlty Towers), who is an American.
A horny Steve Guttenberg, an unfaithful Beverly D'Angelo, a rapidly decaying Daryl Hannah and a flatulent Liam Neeson give excellent performances. Liz Smith is a thief - she steals just about every scene in which she appears.
High sirits 1988 for free#
But Liz Smith is a riot, playing Peter's tipsy, widowed mother who still interacts (read has sexual relations) with her dead husband and communicates with other deceased family members. Currently you are able to watch High Spirits streaming on Hoopla or for free with ads on. Peter O'Toole is hilarious as the penny-less, hereditary keeper of the castle who is about to lose it all. The entire cast give an exuberant, high spirited performance (pun intended) which is sure to tickle your funny bone.
High sirits 1988 movie#
just a pleasure (albeit a guilty one) of movie entertainment. The fact is, folks, this movie is very entertaining, a real joy, from the story, to the acting, to the sets, to the special effects, etc., etc. While not perfect, it is certainly not the complete waste of time that some of these so-called critics claim it to be. In High Spirits, some critics complained that the plot is thin, flighty and lacks realism?!?! But this is a comedy (and a very good one at that), not a serious theatrical work like as play by Shakespeare or some other artsy-f**tsy piece for the pseudo-intellectual snobs. Often, these critics appear to have never seen the movie they are condemning, or, worst still, are ignoring the cinematography and entertainment value based on their own petty bias. In recent years, many critics seem especially to have hidden agendas, or have an axe to grind, or are pandering to special interest groups, which render their reviews worthless. Being quickly panned by British critics, and then dissed by their American colleagues, leads me to believe that many critics write negative reviews based on the opinions of others. Reviews of High Spirits by some movie critics are prime proof of the theory that "professional" movie critics often don't what they're talking about. This is just another fine movie ranked far below what it deserves. It must have been a dark and stormy night when this idea came to mind.Reviewed by SpitfireIXB 8 /10 Very Funny and Entertaining Movie But he does make good use of the wind machine. Writer-director Neil Jordan shows no knack for comedy, nor is he as kinky as he was on "Mona Lisa," and kinky is what is called for.
Maybe it was O'Toole overacting, maybe it was the rushes. The supporting actors look stunned, as if they had been smacked in the forehead with loose masonry from the parapets or seen something truly frightening. O'Toole, a graduate of the Hormel school of acting, gives a preposterous but boring performance.
Peter O'Toole costars as Peter Plunkett, the bungling tippler who runs the castle.
High sirits 1988 series#
Apparently death cures foot odor, because through a series of plot twists too tedious to detail, Sharon becomes infatuated with Martin. He thought there was someone else, but actually it was his foot odor problem. Mary explains that Martin flew into a rage when she refused his advances. Jack, having thrown back some ancient whiskey, sees them and, enchanted by Mary's beauty, steps in front of Martin's knife, a selfless act that breaks the grim spell. Every night since then, the couple have reenacted the tragedy. High Spirits is a surprisingly sweet late-80s comedy about a man in an abusive relationship who visits Peter OTooles haunted castle and falls in love with the spirit of a woman who was murdered there 200 years prior. Two hundred years before, Mary Plunkett (Hannah), a gentle soul, was murdered in the castle's bridal suite by her husband, Martin Brogan (Liam Neeson). But Sharon, with "all the warmth of a penguin on an iceberg," shrugs off his advances. Guttenberg, as the romantic San Diegan Jack, hopes to rekindle his marriage to the narcissistic Sharon (Beverly D'Angelo) with a second honeymoon at Ireland's Castle Plunkett. Boy meets ghoul, boy loses ghoul, boy gets ghoul. It's a forced, psychic sex farce for Banquo-erotics that touches on everything from petting to the poltergasm.Īs ghastly as it is ghostly, this slow, low comedy marries Daryl Hannah's haunting charms with Steve Guttenberg's guileless spirituality. Muir," this peculiar comedy looks at love after death. "High Spirits" is one of those things that go bump at the box office - especially if you have money in it.