Gosford Park Is Crowded, But Entertaining

By Teddy Durgin
tedfilm@aol.com

They say in baseball now, you can't tell the players on the field without a scorecard. Well, I felt that way while watching Gosford Park (now playing in certain markets, expanding to more screens Jan. 11), the new comedy/mystery from director Robert Altman and screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Here is a film that stars (OK, deep breath): Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Kelly Macdonald, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam, Ryan Philippe, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott-Thomas, and Emily Watson.

Whew! And that's just the main cast!

Alright, if you are wondering whether Gosford Park is the movie for you, here is the straight scoop. If you have never gone out of your way to see a Helen Mirren or Derek Jacobi play, film, or PBS TV special, you might want to sit this one out. If you think sitting and listening to dithering Brits who use adverbs in every other sentence drone on and on for more than two hours might annoy the crap out of you ... well, I hear 24 is coming back with all-new episodes.

For the rest of us, Gosford Park is high-brow fun. The film is generating significant Oscar buzz, and with good reason. This is the kind of movie tailor-made for the historically undemanding Academy. Fancy costumes, vivid period detail, and lots and lots of British accents, you can practically hear the Academy voters flicking their Bic pens and checking off Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, etc. Let's not lose our heads here, people. The film is good, but it's not THAT good. Ultimately, I hope more ambitious efforts like Moulin Rouge will be honored come March in the technical categories.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I truly enjoyed spending a couple of hours-plus in Gosford Park. Director Robert Altman teams up with a mix of Sirs, Dames, and just plain good actors and actresses to give audiences a sophisticated comedy of manners. What amazed me most about this movie is the clarity Altman's direction brings to it. The cast is HUGE, and Altman balances the several dozen speaking roles with skill and grace.

Set in November of 1932, the film centers around a shooting party at Gosford Park, the country estate of Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon) and his wife, Lady Sylvia (KristinScott-Thomas). The couple has invited an eclectic group of friends, relatives, and acquaintances, who all come with their servants in tow.

The commercials are touting the murder mystery aspects of the story, but the ill-fated character (I won't say who) doesn't get offed until about two-thirds of the way through. And then, the resulting investigation (by the slightly bumbling Stephen Fry as Inspector Thompson) is done almost as an after-thought. What Gosford Park does best is give us an Upstairs, Downstairs peek into the early '30s world of the British upper class, the fur-wearing elite. There's no real moral or point to the story, except maybe: Don't Work for Rich White People. But that's fine. The parts where the movie takes itself a little too seriously
are, in my opinion, the weakest parts.

The best parts, however, have to do with how the characters use language and information as weapons against one another. Maggie Smith is terrific as Constance, Lady Sylvia's acerbic aunt whose sarcastic insight into the various characters' lives provides Gosford Park with some of its biggest laughs. I also enjoyed Richard E. Grant's snide footman and Ryan Phillippe's faux Scottish valet. Among the visitors, Bob Balaban is most entertaining as Morris Weissman, an American movie producer who doesn't eat meat and is quite proud of his series of Charlie Chan pictures. Sample dialogue:

CONSTANCE: How does your next film end?

MORRIS: Oh, I wouldn't want to spoil the fun for everyone.

CONSTANCE: Don't worry. None of us will be seeing it anyway.

Gosford Park is an ensemble effort in every sense of the word. However, the movie's through line is provided by the supremely cute Kelly Macdonald, who plays Constance's new maid, Mary. Mary is a newcomer to both the world of servitude and the Gosford Park manor. Altman makes the wise decision to use her to introduce most of the servant characters to the audience. When she is told to share quarters with Watson's Elsie, who is having an affair with Sir William, she and we get a double dose of upper and lower class gossip. In the end, Mary proves quite the skillful investigator herself, especially after picking the brain of both her roommate downstairs and her employer upstairs.

Gosford Park is screwball comedy for the Masterpiece Theaterset. Like I wrote earlier, the movie is not terribly deep. It ultimately doesn't really care about the murder it takes great pains to set up. And I could have done without a good five or six of the characters. But there are so many little priceless moments and performances throughout it, I am recommending it.

Lord Durgin has spoken!

Gosford Park is rated R for language and brief sexuality. This is a mild R, folks. Although a sequence in which the men blow the brains out a few dozen birds might disturb some.