Guest House Paradiso (1999)

Directed by

Adrian Edmondson

Genre

black comedy film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 29m

Rated

R

Rating

6.1 of 10 from 151 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Two hopeless and crude friends run a filthy guest house on the Isle of Wight. Their mismanagement and rude behavior drive away most of their guests.

slapstickchaoticgross-outzanyabsurdenergeticraucousrowdy

What happens

Guest House Paradiso is a 1999 British slapstick black comedy film written by and starring comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, who also directed in his feature directorial debut. The film is a spin-off of their BBC comedy television series Bottom. Mayall and Edmondson reprise their roles from the series respectively as Richie and Eddie, albeit with different surnames and relocated to a new setting. The plot behind it was inspired by the various hotels they would stay at as they toured while performing Bottom Live throughout the 1990s. Guest House Paradiso was jointly written by Mayall and Edmondson and, due to Mayall suffering a near-fatal quad bike accident during preproduction, it was decided Edmondson would handle directing duties for the film as Mayall recovered. The film utilises the Richie and Eddie characters from Bottom in a different scenario to that of the television series, with Mayall comparing it to Laurel and Hardy's practice of reusing the same characters and placing them in new situations. In the film, Richie (Mayall) and Eddie (Edmondson) are proprietors of a cheap and rundown guest house on the Isle of Wight called the Guest House Paradiso. After an exodus of customers, the two see their fortunes reverse when a famous Italian film star (Hélène Mahieu) arrives, on the run from her sadistic boyfriend (Vincent Cassel). The soundtrack, composed by musician Colin Towns, showcased a uniquely "anarchic" sound and was comprised entirely of jazz. The film's set design took inspiration from French cinema and its climactic sequence, featuring several characters vomiting following the consumption of radioactive fish salvaged from a nearby nuclear power plant, has been described as "one of the longest and most involved mass puking scenes ever" by The New York Times. Produced by PolyGram Films International on a budget of £3 million and distributed by Universal Pictures International, Guest House Paradiso would be released on 3 December 1999 to negative reviews and failed to recoup its budget at the box office. Plans to develop further films never materialised, and Mayall and Edmondson would instead reprise their roles as Richie and Eddie for two additional stage shows, touring in 2001 and 2003, respectively, before dissolving their partnership thereafter. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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