I wasn't sure what to expect going into this. I had started reading the play by Michael Frayn and decided to watch the film to get an idea of what it would look like. I was expecting a cheap movie with unknown actors and average cinematography. I was not expecting to see Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve in a hilarious romp that had me in stitches from start to finish.
The first act shows a troupe of actors rehearsing for their own farce, "Nothing On". This rehearsal would precede their first performance that night. But they are clearly not ready to perform. The rehearsal is constantly interrupted by forgotten stage directions, faulty doors, the absence of Selsdon (Denholm Elliott), Frederick (Christopher Reeve) asking about his character, Philip's motives and Brooke losing her contacts. You can feel the tension in director Lloyd (Michael Caine) as he realises how incompetent his cast is.
Things only get worse in the second act. This is by far the strongest act. After a few good and a few not so good performances, we now get a glimpse at behind the scenes of one of their performances. However, the cast now hate each other as they believe partners are cheating on them. The brilliance of this act comes from the fact that the actors try to remain silent behind the set and yet they are constantly trying to fight each other or mess with each other. A fantastic moment plays out as the actors attempt to swing an axe at each other only to have it snatched out their hands.
The third and final act once again shows the stage from the audience's point of view as the actors have become even more frustrated with each other and slowly drop out of their characters and veer more and more from their lines. Things drastically fall apart and the audience (of the film) is left chewing their fingernails in discomfort.
The farce that the actors are playing on stage is also brilliantly written in and of itself. At times (when the actors are properly performing the play) it is easy to forget that this is a play inside a play and get absorbed into the action of "Nothing On". It follows a host of characters as they race around a house trying not to let anyone else know they are there. It also involves sardines. A lot of sardines.
The cast do a brilliant job of both their film roles and their play roles. In the film they have American accents, but in the play they have British accents. This makes it clear when they drop in and out of their roles, which they do more and more as the film goes on. This blurred line between between their play character and film character is performed so perfectly as well.
The action plays out in a very cartoon-like way. This is true to the farcical style and works flawlessly. The constant flow of action as multiple things are working at once means the film can be watched over and over and something new can be seen every time.
The camera is never static and pans seamlessly between action as it shows a pair of characters doing one thing as another pair do something else. The dynamic camera puts you right in the action and makes you feel just as uncomfortable as the actors would be.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the dialogue had been taken almost directly from the Michael Frayn's writing. Only a few words had been adapted to fit the American setting.
Overall, this was a uproariously good time and an excellent rendition of the original play. The film serves the play tremendously and is brilliant in its own right too. The cast have performed superbly and the cinematography was dynamic enough so that it still felt like a film and not a stage production.
The first act shows a troupe of actors rehearsing for their own farce, "Nothing On". This rehearsal would precede their first performance that night. But they are clearly not ready to perform. The rehearsal is constantly interrupted by forgotten stage directions, faulty doors, the absence of Selsdon (Denholm Elliott), Frederick (Christopher Reeve) asking about his character, Philip's motives and Brooke losing her contacts. You can feel the tension in director Lloyd (Michael Caine) as he realises how incompetent his cast is.
Things only get worse in the second act. This is by far the strongest act. After a few good and a few not so good performances, we now get a glimpse at behind the scenes of one of their performances. However, the cast now hate each other as they believe partners are cheating on them. The brilliance of this act comes from the fact that the actors try to remain silent behind the set and yet they are constantly trying to fight each other or mess with each other. A fantastic moment plays out as the actors attempt to swing an axe at each other only to have it snatched out their hands.
The third and final act once again shows the stage from the audience's point of view as the actors have become even more frustrated with each other and slowly drop out of their characters and veer more and more from their lines. Things drastically fall apart and the audience (of the film) is left chewing their fingernails in discomfort.
The farce that the actors are playing on stage is also brilliantly written in and of itself. At times (when the actors are properly performing the play) it is easy to forget that this is a play inside a play and get absorbed into the action of "Nothing On". It follows a host of characters as they race around a house trying not to let anyone else know they are there. It also involves sardines. A lot of sardines.
The cast do a brilliant job of both their film roles and their play roles. In the film they have American accents, but in the play they have British accents. This makes it clear when they drop in and out of their roles, which they do more and more as the film goes on. This blurred line between between their play character and film character is performed so perfectly as well.
The action plays out in a very cartoon-like way. This is true to the farcical style and works flawlessly. The constant flow of action as multiple things are working at once means the film can be watched over and over and something new can be seen every time.
The camera is never static and pans seamlessly between action as it shows a pair of characters doing one thing as another pair do something else. The dynamic camera puts you right in the action and makes you feel just as uncomfortable as the actors would be.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the dialogue had been taken almost directly from the Michael Frayn's writing. Only a few words had been adapted to fit the American setting.
Overall, this was a uproariously good time and an excellent rendition of the original play. The film serves the play tremendously and is brilliant in its own right too. The cast have performed superbly and the cinematography was dynamic enough so that it still felt like a film and not a stage production.