[.ca] Welcome Back Mr. Mcdonald

Pure Pleasure:
- I take most "quoted" reviews on DVD jackets with a huge grain of salt. Many of the reviewers are paid for their glowing review. When I saw the "hilarious" on this one, I thought, "well, it probably has a couple chuckles". Was I wrong! This movie is fall-off-the-couch funny! I won't go into the details, since the other reviewers did. The film starts off slowly, but maintains your interest. Once the shenanigans begin, you're hooked! The film charges headlong from one ludicrous even to another, barely giving you a chance to catch your breath! The pace is breathtaking, but the filmmakers never stumble. Not only is it side-splittingly funny, it is also charming, sweet, and completely devoid of any objectionable content. You can watch this one with your teenagers (mine loved it!). Movies like this come along about once every 20 years. So, cherish this one. It's a classic, and now one of my Desert Island DVDs (assuming the desert island has electricity!). -

An excellent Japanese comedy:
Welcome Back Mr McDonald is a strong example of Japanese humor -- or, at least, the light side of it. Adult fans of Pokemon should feel fairly at home with this one. The plot focuses on the production of a radio play, the grand prize in a radio station's contest seeking the best amateur-written play. However, complications begin as the lead actress decides she doesn't like her character's name. Her demand is the beginning of a series of changes to the play-within-a-movie that doesn't stop when the live performance begins. Characterization is fairly simple and mostly is about furthering the plot -- the actors are mostly driven by their egos to rework the play to their advantage, the production crew is focused on making it all work, the contest winner wants to see her script (a transparent fantasy of how her life could have gone differently) fulfill her fantasy of meeting a man more exciting than her husband. Nevertheless, they hold to their assigned roles well and don't drift away from that characterization just to make a punchline. The comedy is a mix of character conflict and physical comedy as members of the crew rush to adapt to the changes to the play (the Assistant Director ends up taking a crash course in old fashioned sfx). In both cases, timing is crucial and the cast manages to hit their marks every time. The race-against-the-clock aspect of this film reminded me of watching a live production of Noises Off -- a feeling this movie captured better than the film version of Noises Off.

A Wonderful, Wonderful Film!:
I first saw this movie as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival a couple of years ago. It was one of those extremely rare experiences when EVERYBODY in the entire theatre was laughing at the SAME TIME and was completely captivated by the movie. This is a very charming and very, very funny film, and I've been looking for it on US video or DVD for years. Glad to be getting a copy to show to as many people as I can. Please take a chance and see this film. The story concerns a late-night radio drama being put on according to the script written by a humble woman who'd won a radio script-writing contest (she was, it turns out, the only entrant). The actors assemble, the technicians are all set to mail the performance in, when things start to go askew. The lead actress suddenly decides that instead of playing a simple pachinco parlor attendant from Japan, she wants to play a high-powered American lawyer named Mary Jane. This angers the male co-star (who'd only been slated to play a simple fisherman), and more changes are made to placate him. These, in turn, lead to more changes. And more. And then the sponsor gets involved and more things change. And more. The results are unforgettable (and hilarious) as the cast and crew take the story farther and farther from the author's semiautobiographical script in the tension-filled live performance. Stay tuned for the surprisingly satisfying conclusion. Again, it's a very funny, very sweet film. Very well done. It's a shame more people didn't get to see it on it's limited US release.