Guest House Paradiso

Written by steve@digitallard.com //  11/04/2005 //  Comments

Guest House Paradiso on DVD Review | Movie / Film

I’ve been a big fan of Bottom (the TV series that is) for a long time. I own all three series on video and all three stage shows. I even went to watch the third live show (Hooligans Island) live in Bristol.

I’ve been a big fan of Bottom (the TV series that is) for a long time. I own all three series on video and all three stage shows. I even went to watch the third live show (Hooligans Island) live in Bristol. So as you can imagine I was quite looking forward to Richie and Eddies first full-length feature film.

Guest House Paradiso Guest House Paradiso

Plot

Richard Twat (pronounced Thwait) and Eddie Elizabeth Ndingombaba are the owners of the Guest House Paradiso. This charming little seafront guesthouse is located right next door to a huge nuclear power station. Things are not looking too good for Richie and Eddie as the waiter has disappeared, the chef has eaten all the food and all the guests have left without paying.

Things start to look up however when the Nice family and Gina Carbonara the Italian film star / love goddess arrive at the guesthouse. While Richie is rifling through Mrs Nice’s underwear Eddie is preparing a fish supper that nobody will forget in a hurry. When Gina’s husband to be Gino Bolognese turns up and the fish starts to take its toll on the guests, the boys and Gina have to escape in a finale that will turn anyone’s stomach.

Guest House Paradiso Guest House Paradiso

Video / Audio

The picture is in a 1.85:1 Widescreen Anamorphic format. I was very surprised by the picture quality as this is such a low budget film. Although it seemed a little soft to me it’s still a colourful and bright picture with no scratches.

According to the box the audio format is Dolby Digital Surround. According to my DVD player and Amplifier however it was a 5.1 soundtrack, it certainly sounded like a 5.1 soundtrack to me. Although the surround channels aren’t taxed too much they get a good pounding during the fight scenes and the vomit scenes are disturbingly effective.

Guest House Paradiso Guest House Paradiso

Extras

On the extras side there’s a very good 35-minute making of feature. This is actually better than the usual making of feature. There’s plenty of background on cast & crew and they reveal the secrets of some of the stunts and effects including how they did the disgusting vomit.

Next up is a quite lengthy but hilarious set of out-takes. There’s a DVD Rom game that’s basically Richie and Eddie fighting. You can choose one character and try to beat up the other. This is a very basic game and is mildly amusing for 5 minutes but not one you’ll go back to again. Finally there’ a set of three trailers.

Guest House Paradiso Guest House Paradiso

Overall

I’ve seen no end of comments on this film that absolutely slate it. I think the best thing to say is if you’re not a die-hard fan of Bottom then forget it because I’m sure you will hate this film. If however you are a fan then you’re in for a treat. There’s a long fight scene near the beginning that must have blown a good chunk of their budget and is hysterical to watch.

Eddie and Riche are as crude, rude and dirty as ever. The supporting cast are also very good particularly Hélène Mahieu as Gina Carbonarra. The only complaint I’ll make is that the vomit scenes are too graphically stomach churning and I found myself feeling quite ill during these scenes.

The DVD itself is of a good quality with a good picture and audio track. The extras could have been better; a commentary track from Rick and Adrian would probably have been very funny to listen to. As this was out on the same day as Kevin & Perry I can’t help comparing the two of them and I think Kevin & Perry is probably the better film, it’s definitely the better DVD.

Leave you brain behind and don’t eat anything while watching it and you can enjoy this film, 4 out of 5.

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Stephen Kinsey
Stephen Kinsey

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