reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/02/85)
It seems like the Australians are attempting to revive, one
by one, all of the moribund Hollywood film genres. They've al-
ready taken a stab at Victorian costume dramas and Westerns, now
they're moving on to screwball comedy. "Stanley" is a throwback
to the days when Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable
challenged conventional mores, sometimes assisted by, sometimes
struggling against female counterparts like Katherine Hepburn,
Carol Lombard, and Rosalind Russell. Unfortunately, "Stanley" is
somewhat lacking in the wit that characterized the best of screw-
ball comedy, and its pacing is suspect. Even so, it's a fair
amount of fun.
Stanley is the son of an advertising magnate, and he regu-
larly distresses his father (who he refers to as "Sir Dad") by
demonstrating his lack of connection with the normal world.
After one final fiasco, Stanley is to be put away in a mental
home. Having little relish for this prospect, Stanley decides to
reform himself by seeking out the most normal family in Australia
and emulating them. Having grabbed a name from the company com-
puter, he's off to establish himself as a normal boarder and
average worker, with a conventional girlfriend and no odd habits.
Alas, the supposedly normal family turns out to be completely
crackers, making Stanley look like a bastion of reason, and the
chosen girlfriend doesn't want a normal man at all. Moreover,
Stanley's father has set a dogged detective on his tail.
Howard Hawks probably could have made a very fine film from
this premise. Director Esben Storm's film is merely acceptable.
There are some good laughs and the plot doesn't drag, but neither
does it move with the kind of manic energy this sort of film re-
quires. There are difficulties with Storm's script, as well.
The supposedly normal family is obviously weird from the word go,
what with a ghastly collection of garden gnomes and hitching boys
in their front yard and a poodle dyed pink. Thus, we lose the
fun of gradually seeing that each and every family member has his
or her own brand of concealed insanity. Stanley's basic strange-
ness is insufficiently established at the beginning, as well,
making for even less contrast. Storm also supplies Stanley with
an odd friend, apparently a psychologist of some kind, who claims
that he will be keeping an eye on the whole affair, but then
disappears for the rest of the film. He has the look of a char-
acter who didn't work and was cut out, except for a single vital
expository scene.
The acting, by and large, is adequate but unexciting. Peter
Bensley, in the title role, is the one exception. Bensley is
both handsome and charming, and is likely to go far in Australian
films. He shows a nice talent for light comedy, as well. The
only member of the cast likely to be known outside Australia is
Nell Campbell, who plays Stanley's reluctant girlfriend. Campbell
will doubtless be remembered as Columbia in "The Rocky Horror
Picture Show". Here, she lacks the charm necessary to bring
across her character. Her constant rebuffs of Stanley make her
prey to audience dislike, and Campbell doesn't do enough to re-
gain our sympathies.
"Stanley", then, is not quite what it sets out to be. Basi-
cally, it's not funny enough, and not fast enough to hide it.
"Stanley" is moderately good fun, but not the sort of film one
longs to see or waits for with bated breath. It is, in short, a
good film to see on cable TV, where it will undoubtedly appear,
perhaps after a short run in some of the larger cities. Don't
bother looking for it, but if you happen to run across it and
have no special plans for a couple of hours, "Stanley" could give
you a modest amount of pleasure.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher