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Bit 1
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Starving actors Maurice (Oliver Platt) and Arthur (Stanley Tucci) live
for their art, but like other forgotten men of the Thirties -- in their
case, forgotten by producers and agents -- they also have to live by
their wits. If their scams can't even get them free food, they face the
horror of lowering their high standards and seeking work outside the
business.
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Bit 2
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When the connoisseurs see gin-soaked Shakespearean ham Jeremy Burtom
(Alfred Molina) as Hamlet, creative differences arise and provoke an
altercation, leaving Maurice and Arthur to escape and hide from their
pursuers in a crate. Comes the dawn, and the thespians emerge to find
they are at sea on an ocean liner. What follows will prove the greatest
test of their acting skills, as the stowaways have to elude the wrath of
Burtom and stay clear of the brig, while becoming involved in intrigue
and romance among the passengers.
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Bit 3
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The complications include a dowager scheming to wed her daughter to a
sheik, while the daughter falls for a suicidal crooner; the Captain
adoring the deposed Queen of some Balkan country, one of whose former
subjects is an anarchist planning to blow up the ship; and a thug and
his moll pretending to be French with an eye to extortion and/or
blackmail of dowager and sheik. There's also the man-to-man interest
predatory gay tennis champ Sparks (Billy Connolly) shows in Maurice,
among other targets.
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Bit 4
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Writer and director Tucci found his inspiration in 1930s Marx Brothers
comedies like Monkey Business and A Night at the Opera,
and salutes such early comedy with a variety of devices --
intertitles, an iris-in, plenty of wide shots, the occasional
clothes-line staging, and wobbly tracking shots -- as well as with
characters and situations.
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Bit 5
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For The Impostors, Tucci re-assembled the main production team
and a nucleus of actors from his 1996 indie favourite Big Night.
Although The Impostors had twice the budget of Big
Night, production designer Andrew Jackness and costume
designer Juliet Polsca very often had to work with what they could adapt
or rent, rather than build from scratch. For example, many of the
shipboard locations were created by disguising an Art Deco building in
Jersey City, while the ship's ballroom was completely constructed at
Silvercup Studios in Astoria, New York.
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Bit 6
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One of Polsca's tasks came when Maurice has to disguise himself as a
woman. For this occasion, Polsca provides an evening gown of
moss-coloured lace and what looks like silk crêpe
in olive green -- a tasteful choice (I particularly liked Platt's
matching T-bar shoes) in any era for a big and tall woman of what can
best be described as striking features. But, of course, the comic
effect is ensured by what emerges from the distinguished envelope, like
the thick black hairs beneath the diamond necklace and, beneath the
diamond tiara, the headful of golden ringlets (all the better for
tossing).
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Bit 7
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Polsca also gets a lot of comedy mileage out of the one-piece,
union-suit underwear in which various male characters are seen. The
groups of extras generally look good in vintage outfits, the ladies
evidently lacking only the straight, long-line girdles of the era -- but
special corsetry would have added thousands to the budget.
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Bit 8
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If The Impostors is perhaps not as hysterically funny as it
could have been, let's recall that there were even dull patches in some
Marx Brothers films. But audiences who enjoy The Impostors
can look forward to another period re-creation (again assisted by
Jackness and Polsca) in Tucci's next project, set in 1950s Greenwich
Village.
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Bit 9
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Details
The Impostors, by Fox Searchlight, 1998.
Writer and Director: Stanley Tucci.
Cinematography: Ken Kelsch.
Artistic Consultant: Andrei Belgrader.
Production Design: Andrew Jackness.
Costume Design: Juliet Polsca.
Cast: Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina, Lili Taylor, Tony
Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, Campbell Scott, Billy Connolly.
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Bit 10
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Shane Lewis. "Is My Aunt Minnie in Here? 'The Impostors'." M/C Reviews 9 Jan. 99.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/impostors.html>.
Chicago style:
Shane Lewis, "Is My Aunt Minnie in Here? 'The Impostors'," M/C Reviews 9 Jan. 99,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/impostors.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Shane Lewis. (1999) Is my aunt Minnie in here? 'The Impostors'. M/C Reviews 9 Jan. 99.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/impostors.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://www.foxsearchlight.com/impostors/images/homepair.jpg)