Impostors, The MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

Script writer, director and actor Stanley Gucci teams up with Oliver Platt in this spoof of movies of the 1930's. Gucci and Platt play Arthur and Maurice, two down-and-out actors during the Depression. They perform in public places, pretending to be strangers who inevitably create chaos. The hilarious opening scene in a sidewalk caf is done in mime, like a Laurel and Hardy or Charlie Chaplin movie. Once, the two hungry men decide to use their acting skills in a bakery, hoping to con the proprietor out of some delicious pastries. Instead, they end up with two tickets to a stage play of "Hamlet." They insult the star in a bar after the performance, which leads to a fight and a police chase down to the docks. Arthur and Maurice inadvertently become stowaways on a luxury ocean liner setting sale for Germany and soon discover the insulted Shakespearean actor happens to be onboard. Slapstick action never stops as the two, disguised as ship stewards, try to avoid getting caught. A cast of many goofy characters results in a silly and sometimes funny old-fashioned comedy.

THE IMPOSTORS is old-fashioned except for its foul language. Back in the thirties, Hollywood producers did not allow f- or s-words, but this script has nine, plus nine regular profanities. The continuous slapstick antics include a woman caught in a brawl being rescued by a waiter who accidentally grabs her breasts. Maurice and Arthur like to fake dramatic deaths in their staged confrontations to attract attention. Onboard ship, all kinds of bizarre behavior takes place. A crew member who plans to blow up the ship also engages in phone sex with suggestive conversation and graphic movements. The ship's suicidal entertainer tries to overdose on pills, and the staff detective is tricked into shooting Maurice, but misses. An African sheik coerces Arthur and Maurice into a sensuous dance, and a homosexual passenger thinks the stowaways are homosexual too and makes several lewd remarks. THE IMPOSTORS has no underlying messages - it's merely an attempt to entertain. Unfortunately, however, profanities, obscenities and perverse sexual behavior won't entertain discerning audiences.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Fox Searchlight, 10201 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035