What we have here is a film with a script that lazily restages many of the scenes from the classic tv show and tries to make it hang together coherently.
If you are a fan of the show you will recognise many of the gags being recycled. Whilst not a complete mess the film offers nothing new and wastes it cast. The scriptwriters really should have tried harder and given Rigsby and co a new situation to deal with rather than plundering from the show.
Inevitably the great Lionel Rossiter steals every scene he is in, yet the cast were always the series strong point and both Frances De La Tour and Don Warrington give strong performances. Richard Beckinsale had tragically passed away at the ridiculously young age of 31 so rather than recast his role the producers wisely brought in a new character played by Christopher Strauli. However the opportunity to make an interesting film is let down by the script as it just retreads the tv show when it could have done something new. Yes the film is funny in places but only if you've never seen the entire show, in which case you will see all the jokes coming.
The direction is decent enough considering the limitations of the smallish budget and the amount of location work, the cast are all terrific as we would expect but the opportunity to give the fans a great send off to one of the next British sitcoms is sadly lost.
A wasted opportunity.
If you are a fan of the show you will recognise many of the gags being recycled. Whilst not a complete mess the film offers nothing new and wastes it cast. The scriptwriters really should have tried harder and given Rigsby and co a new situation to deal with rather than plundering from the show.
Inevitably the great Lionel Rossiter steals every scene he is in, yet the cast were always the series strong point and both Frances De La Tour and Don Warrington give strong performances. Richard Beckinsale had tragically passed away at the ridiculously young age of 31 so rather than recast his role the producers wisely brought in a new character played by Christopher Strauli. However the opportunity to make an interesting film is let down by the script as it just retreads the tv show when it could have done something new. Yes the film is funny in places but only if you've never seen the entire show, in which case you will see all the jokes coming.
The direction is decent enough considering the limitations of the smallish budget and the amount of location work, the cast are all terrific as we would expect but the opportunity to give the fans a great send off to one of the next British sitcoms is sadly lost.
A wasted opportunity.