Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.


For every actor, it’s always been a struggle to do things for the money or just simply for the work. In Hollywood, studio execs, producers, and accountants are always hope for their film to become a huge hit with a lot of profit in return for its actors, lawyers, producers, crews, and such. Yet, Hollywood as indulgent as they are, hope to never make a cinematic flop where their actors can relax and let loose in their performances since the thing they really care about is having a substantial amount of profit to return. In the world of independent films, money is pretty much the last thing on their minds since they work with a very limited budget and the actors just have enough to scrape buy. In 1998, actor Stanley Tucci decided a film where for himself and pals just to have some fun and not worry about making money in his 1998 sole directorial debut film “The Impostors”.

“The Impostors” is set in 1930s New York City where two great but out-of-work actors are on the run after insulting a pretentious, Barrymore-like actor where they land on a cruise. With their acting abilities to help them, they come across a colorful group of characters including an aggressively gay tennis player, a deposed European queen, a sheik, and two American criminals posing as French people along with a revolutionary first mate, and a suicidal lounge singer. Written, produced, and directed by Tucci, “The Impostors” is a screwball comedy where the premise might seem self-indulgent and pretentious to snobs but in the end, it’s just a film where everyone just wants to have fun. With a cast led by Tucci and Oliver Platt that features the crème-de-la-crème of indie films that include Coen Brothers regulars Steve Buscemi, Tony Shalhoub, and Richard Jenkins along with ex-indie queens Lili Taylor and Hope Davis, Tucci’s “Big Night” directing partner Campbell Scott and pals Isabella Rossellini, Teagle F. Bougere, Allison Janney, Billy Connolly, Matt McGrath, Alfred Molina, Dana Ivey, Alan Corduner, and a cameo appearance from Woody Allen!!!! “The Impostors” is a silly, irreverent comedy where everybody overacts for no reason but then again, WHO CARES!!!!!!!

For the duo of Arthur (Stanley Tucci) and Maurice (Oliver Platt), their ability to act in schemes would work, even at one point in a Central Park restaurant in 1930s NYC, it worked but too well as both men played dead in front of the park’s patrons. Maurice later apologizes to Arthur for screwing up the scam where they later engage in acting exercises to practice their range. Arthur tries to work on an accent as a British beggar where the two land an audition for a theater director (Woody Allen folks) who watches them try and do a killing scene but gets cut short. The theater director gets a call from his wife who leaves him leaving the director to cancel the audition forcing Arthur and Maurice to be unemployed again. They then launch into a scheme to get some food at a pastry shop that goes all wrong when Arthur goes too far into insulting the baker (David Lipman) where Maurice saves him and in return, the baker gives him tickets to see “Hamlet” starring the one actor they hate, Jeremy Burtom (Alfred Molina).

They decide to watch the play since a friend of theirs is in it but whereas Burtom’s impressed the entire audience with his dramatic flair, Arthur and Maurice aren’t since they think he’s nothing more than a pretentious, overrated actor who steps on the heads of supporting players. Later that night at a bar, Arthur and Maurice are drunk with a fellow actor, who got injured by Burtom where Maurice goes into a full-on rant on Burtom who arrives in time to hear the insult. Maurice learns that Burtom saw the whole thing as he and Arthur are chased and learn the cops after them where they hide in a box for the entire night. Later that morning, they learn the box was moved on an ocean liner!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Arthur and Maurice are now wanted for the assault on Burtom and tried to leave the ship learning that cops are all over the exits where they disguise themselves as stewards. In that ship, head stewardess Lily (Lili Taylor) is checking all the passengers while being pursued by a German staff director named Meistrich (Campbell Scott in a hilarious German accent). Lily doesn’t like Meistrich very much since she really likes the ship’s Italian detective Marco (Matt McGrath) who she tries to talk to but Meistrich is always there. With the passengers boarding, Arthur and Maurice try to walk out until they see Burtom arriving the ship with a sling talking dramatically about his assault. Arthur and Maurice are forced to play stewards carrying bags for a woman named Mrs. Essendine (Dana Ivey) and her ultra-depressed daughter Emily (Hope Davis) who is still mourning the death of her father. Also arriving is a Greek tennis player named Sparks (Billy Connolly) who has an affinity for men while Arthur and Maurice were then seen by Lily, who learns they’re not real stewards but decides to help them hide until Meistrich and Burtom wants his bags moved where he sees them and tries to chase them.

Lily hides the two where Burtom complains to the ship’s Italian captain (Alan Corduner) who fetches Marco to find the two and kill them where Lily tells the two they’re leaving for Paris as Arthur launches into a description of Paris as if he’s been there, well not physically. Meanwhile in the ship, a deposed European queen (Isabella Rossellini) is in despair over her role as she kept sobbing until a stewardess leaves where she kept on sobbing while wearing her crown. Meanwhile, Arthur and Maurice are trying to hide in other places where they come across the aggressively gay Sparks and a sheik (Teagle F. Bougere) that wanted him to fix his record player so he can hear his favorite song “Parles-Moi d’Amour” by Lucienne Boyer where its fixed that makes the sheik dance and forcing Arthur and Maurice to join along. In the Essendine room, Mrs. Essendine is hoping to find a rich man to marry since she’s angry that all the money her husband left was given to the poor as she yelled “A LIFE WITHOUT MONEY IS NO G*DDAMNED LIFE!”

In another room of the ship, the cruise’s entertainer Happy Franks (Steve Buscemi) is extremely depressed and unhappy since he is getting a divorce from his wife forcing him to be suicidal. He tries to kill himself until the cruise’s entertainment director Pancetta Leaky (Elizabeth Bracco) knocks his door to tell him that he has to rehearse where she took his bag, that had a gun inside. Arthur and Maurice are still getting enjoyment from the sheik outside of his room where Burtom comes across them again forcing the two to separate. Arthur finds himself in a room where it belongs to an American con artist couple pretending to French. Johnny (Richard Jenkins) is trying to marry Mrs. Essendine for her money while Maxine (Allison Janney) is trying to marry the sheik and later, kill him as the two engage in sex with Arthur watching in the closet. Maurice meanwhile hides under the bed where he learns the ship’s first mate (Tony Shalhoub) is a revolutionary planning to bomb the ship and kidnapped the deposed queen to destroy social standings, as he talks to a radio and his girlfriend Regina where he ends up playing himself with Maurice watching the mate’s plan through subtitles.

Arthur and Maurice find each other where they told each other what they saw that leaves Arthur to be sad since he felt he’s too delicate to die. They hide in the infirmary where they disguise themselves as doctors only to see Burtom, who is asked to be checked in which, they tied him up and leave only meeting a scared Marco, who doesn’t want to kill anyone where he accidentally shoots Arthur into thinking that he killed him. Really, Arthur played dead convincingly to Maurice where the two felt… IT IS TIME TO ACT!!!!!!

They disguise themselves where the Queen is trying to hide her face in the party with Arthur trying to watch Johnny and Maxine and Maurice (as a woman, an ugly woman, a really ugly woman with blonde hair) watching the first mate. The ship’s captain meanwhile, is quietly being comfortable watching with a detached sadness over a woman he loved that he hadn’t seen. Then Happy Franks takes the stage singing “The Nearness Of You” but stops it while he cries in front of the audience, where he goes to a bar, find sleeping pills only to be stopped by Emily who feels his pain!!!!! The party rages on where the captain sees the Queen and learns, its his love and Burtom sees Arthur (as a British man) and is glad that a British man is in the ship since the whole place is crawling with Americans, who he felt are nothing more than just colonials. Franks tries to tell Emily that the only thing to fear is love and the biggest fear where everyone says “I love you” in many languages where Burtom sees Arthur for who he is… as an IMPOSTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone’s cover been blown where Lily helps Arthur and Maurice in their mission to save the ship and its passenger where the first mate continues to prepare to kidnap the queen and blow up the ship. Do Arthur and Maurice save the ship? Do Johnny and Maxine marry their targets? Does Emily try to show Happy happiness? Does the first mate blow up the ship? Does all of this happen and is the ending happy, sad, or just your typical independent film ending?

Many film snobs will find the whole premise of the film to be overly silly. Tucci’s direction, or lack of seems to make the film’s cast feel comfortable and relaxed. Judging by the look of the faces of the cast, everyone seems to be having fun and just feel loose. Even the acting feels completely improvised to the point where everyone overacts just for fun. The one-liners many of the actors deliver are hilarious and sometimes filled with too much drama just for laughs. The screenplay doesn’t lose consistency with its various subplots since the film’s main protagonist help bring in the supporting players. The film overall point is really just to say F*CK IT!!!! Let’s just cry too much or just dramatize things way too far, which I think Tucci was going for. Clearly, he wasn’t making the film for commercial reasons but for something him and his friends can enjoy and maybe indie film fans can just let loose and laugh.

The film’s look of the 1930s is shot well-exquisitely by cinematographer Ken Kelch for its sunny look and stylized colors done by the film’s production designer Andrew Jackness and art director Chris Shriver. With set decoration from Catherine Davis, the film does have a nice, clean look of 1930s ocean liners while at the same time, you notice things are fake with the sky background but then again, the crew must’ve been having fun too. Even the film’s music of Dixieland jazz and rag time music are well used with musical contributions from Steve Buscemi and Hope Davis, who are both very good singers. Finally, some actors who can sing without making a fool of themselves! There’s also some mindless choreography in the dancing from Jo Andress in the film’s final credit of the indie dance line.

Then you have your film’s amazing cast of actors who all rule in their performances, it’s too much to tell from its smaller actors to the main cast. Stanley Tucci and Oliver Platt are perfect as the Laurel/Hardy duo with their acting exercises and comedic flair while displaying their mastery at drama, in the most hilarious way. Campbell Scott is a hoot as the German Meistrich with his accent, slick hair, and the way he screams “EXCELLENT”. Lili Taylor even shines in her role with hairdo and comedic one-liners while Hope Davis is fun as the depressed daughter who falls for the suicidal Steve Buscemi who brings in another classic performance. GIVE THIS MAN THE OSCAR FOR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

Allison Janney and Richard Jenkins are great as the American-French con artists while Isabella Rossellini is a total riot as the queen trying to hide her face and sob throughout the entire movie. Tony Shalhoub is even funnier as the revolutionary with this strange accent and bringing a parody to the point that he’s not even a terrorist, just an idiotic revolutionary. Alfred Molina is also funny as Jeremy Burtom by playing the role in the most overly dramatic format where Molina isn’t afraid to make fun of himself. He’s going to rule in “Spider-Man 2" folks. Even the performances of Bougere, Ivey, McGrath, Corduner, and the always-funny Billy Connelly are fun to watch and even in his few minutes, Woody Allen still proves to be the great funnyman he is, even if he’s parodying himself. Then again, he’s WOODY F*CKING ALLEN!!!!!!!

In the end, “The Impostors” isn’t for everyone but film fanatics who just simply don’t care what happens as long as everyone just has some fun. The film is really done truly in the indie spirit with an elite cast of indie actors just letting loose and having a line dance. Hollywood wouldn’t make crap like this since they’ve already made a bad reputation in the past with mindless films like “Hello Dolly” and “Paint Your Wagon”. That’s why there’s your indie actor. Sure, they want some money but at the end of the day, they just want to deliver performances their fans can enjoy so just watch “The Impostors” for some laughs and great one liners. After all, who doesn’t want to hear Stanley Tucci’s great speech on Paris?

(Cues up dramatic, dreamy music)

Oh how I want to go there and see the Eiffel Tower, run through the museum with Eva Green and Ludivine Sagnier, hang out with Malkovich. Then go all across Europe and watch great movies being made and then fly to Tokyo, drink Santori whiskey with Bill Murray and sing karaoke tunes with Miss Scarlett Johansson. Then come back to Bush-free America and join Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zooey Deschanel, and the rest of the indie crowd and go have an indie dance and just rock out!!!!! (Plays the Raptures “House Of Jealous Lovers)


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older