SPOILERS
There are many war films released each year. Some perhaps tell the story of the second world war in a deep, moving story, like 2003's "The Pianist", whilst some prefer to tell it as a laid back story. In "All the Queen's Men" we are presented with a historical representation which is not funny, not deep and which is arguably considerably offencive to the English.
Set during the war, this film centres around American Special Services O'Rourke (Matt LeBlanc). O'Rourke has ended up in a British Prisoner of War Camp after a screw up with British Intelligence. Recruited to retrieve an Enigma machine from an all womens factory, O'Rourke works with Tony (Eddie Izzard), a British cross dresser who's undeserving of a surname, to complete his task.
This film is simply awful. Gathering a group of men to star in roles and look absolutely nothing like women was either a masterstroke or a sign of stupidity. By giving Matt LeBlanc the leading role, the creators of this film have been both offencive to the English and useless in their casting. LeBlanc performs exactly as we'd expect Joey from "Friends" to perform, and he does it by implying that the English are useless. At the beginning, LeBlanc is meant to have retrieved an Enigma Coding machine alone, only for a group of English soldiers to destroy it under a bureaucratic rule book. Therefore from the first five minutes, we are already introduced to the British stupidity and how it screws up the War.
LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard are sent to Germany as women and look positively un-feminine, working with two other British soldiers, who look even more masculine. As British soldiers turned drag queens, James Cosmo (most notable for Angus McLeod in 1986's "Highlander") and David Birkin (an unknown except for an appearance as Picard's nephew in "Star Trek: The Next Generation), these two actors appear awkward and uncomfortable wearing dresses and looking stupid.
The two key problems with "All the Queen's Men" are upsettingly not the way it has masculine men dressed as women, but the ways it attempts to show the German's as uncultured and simultaneously trying to make Eddie Izzard physically sexy. Firstly Izzard has always been good as a comedian, but never sexy as a woman. Secondly, the Germans were never uncultured fiends like everyone implied. During the wartime one of the best Philosophers was Heiddeggar, who was a strong Nazi sympathiser. Simultaneously, Hitler was in favour of art and music, admittedly only from particular people, but art none the less. Anyway, irrelevant of politics, this film implies that homophobia and countless other topics are minority topics and unique.
Cutting down to minor detail, irrelevant of whether this film is offencive or not, the plot is awful, the scripting is awful and the cinematography is absolutely dreadful. As a director Stefan Ruzowitzky is dire and it's unsurprising that this is only one of five directorial experiences. So with an awful script, awful plot, awful directing, stupid cinematography and pointless music, this film has little going for it. It's not funny, it's not serious. It appears to not know what it wants to be and it never does anything except make the audience irritable and grouchy.
There are many war films released each year. Some perhaps tell the story of the second world war in a deep, moving story, like 2003's "The Pianist", whilst some prefer to tell it as a laid back story. In "All the Queen's Men" we are presented with a historical representation which is not funny, not deep and which is arguably considerably offencive to the English.
Set during the war, this film centres around American Special Services O'Rourke (Matt LeBlanc). O'Rourke has ended up in a British Prisoner of War Camp after a screw up with British Intelligence. Recruited to retrieve an Enigma machine from an all womens factory, O'Rourke works with Tony (Eddie Izzard), a British cross dresser who's undeserving of a surname, to complete his task.
This film is simply awful. Gathering a group of men to star in roles and look absolutely nothing like women was either a masterstroke or a sign of stupidity. By giving Matt LeBlanc the leading role, the creators of this film have been both offencive to the English and useless in their casting. LeBlanc performs exactly as we'd expect Joey from "Friends" to perform, and he does it by implying that the English are useless. At the beginning, LeBlanc is meant to have retrieved an Enigma Coding machine alone, only for a group of English soldiers to destroy it under a bureaucratic rule book. Therefore from the first five minutes, we are already introduced to the British stupidity and how it screws up the War.
LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard are sent to Germany as women and look positively un-feminine, working with two other British soldiers, who look even more masculine. As British soldiers turned drag queens, James Cosmo (most notable for Angus McLeod in 1986's "Highlander") and David Birkin (an unknown except for an appearance as Picard's nephew in "Star Trek: The Next Generation), these two actors appear awkward and uncomfortable wearing dresses and looking stupid.
The two key problems with "All the Queen's Men" are upsettingly not the way it has masculine men dressed as women, but the ways it attempts to show the German's as uncultured and simultaneously trying to make Eddie Izzard physically sexy. Firstly Izzard has always been good as a comedian, but never sexy as a woman. Secondly, the Germans were never uncultured fiends like everyone implied. During the wartime one of the best Philosophers was Heiddeggar, who was a strong Nazi sympathiser. Simultaneously, Hitler was in favour of art and music, admittedly only from particular people, but art none the less. Anyway, irrelevant of politics, this film implies that homophobia and countless other topics are minority topics and unique.
Cutting down to minor detail, irrelevant of whether this film is offencive or not, the plot is awful, the scripting is awful and the cinematography is absolutely dreadful. As a director Stefan Ruzowitzky is dire and it's unsurprising that this is only one of five directorial experiences. So with an awful script, awful plot, awful directing, stupid cinematography and pointless music, this film has little going for it. It's not funny, it's not serious. It appears to not know what it wants to be and it never does anything except make the audience irritable and grouchy.