By Jeeves (TV Movie 2001) Poster

(2001 TV Movie)

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10/10
Absolutely Delightful Fun Musical
WWalrus18 March 2003
It's an Andrew Lloyd Webber show transfered to film and full of wonderful and beautiful musical numbers. "Half A Moment" is top of the line Webber.

Granted that it is an American/Canadian cast, they still are able to bring out the fun of the absurd story. Probably an English person will find fault with it since it is essentially an English story, but the actors are wonderful. John Scherer is perfect as Bertie and sings wonderfully. I am probably prejudiced in this as I directed him in shows while he was a teen ager just starting out and he is one of the most talented people I ever worked with. He went on to do "Sunset Blvd." on Broadway.

This production was filmed in Toronto and it is really unfortunate that it has never been released in the United States. It was shown on Canadian television and I was lucky enough to have a friend in London send me a copy of the commercial tape available there.

"By Jeeves" is a delightful way to spend an evening and essential to anyone who is a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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5/10
Baffling
akuma_tenshi9 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Maybe it'd be better on stage, but this recording was awkward at best and insufferable at worst. It's like it's amateur dramatics that universal studios suddenly decided to film one day.

On top of that, I can't tell if it's meant to be a 'laugh out loud' comedy or a spoof or what. This is filmed in front of a fake audience, but they don't seem to react to what's actually going on. What are assumedly jokes land in silence at times, and then they are in hysterics at seemingly unfunny things. It feels like it was made to make fun of the British for the Americans; I honestly can't figure out why else this was made.

Thankfully there's one good song about pigs at the end, but otherwise this is a real stinker of a musical. Certainly bottom of the pile of the Andrew Lloyd Webber repertoire...
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10/10
Loved this musical
trav121 January 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I absolutely loved this, and I didn't let the accents get in the way of my enjoyment of this musical. I particularly enjoyed the idea of it all having to be put together at the last minute, hence the car made out of cardboard boxes and a kitchen table. One of my favourite moments is when Stiffy and Harold sing their romantic duet to Bertie who is sitting in the audience. At the end Bertie is looking almost teary, turns round to the audience and says "I ask you, how can a man say no?" Stiffy and Harold look at Bertie expectantly and go "Well?", at which Bertie yells "NOOOOOO!! I do have to admit that during the first 15 minutes I wasn't sure about this musical, but as I continued watching it I grew to love it and it's now one of my favourites
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4/10
Oh dear
tonycarr10 May 2020
Andrew Lloyd Webber has been releasing various pieces on Youtube during the current pandemic and this was this weeks offering. What's bizarre is that this is from the man behind Cats, Evita, Phantom, Superstar and all the rest. You can only think that he knocked this up one morning while having a toilet break. The music is totally unmemorable, less than twenty four hours later I couldn't remember one song, apart from "By Jeeves". The guy who plays Bertie has completely missed the point and absolutely fails to get Bertie's slight goofiness. I'm not mentioning the accent because I can't do better then another reviewers "Concorde" jibe.

The only saving grace here is Martin Jarvis who is Jeeves to a T.

If you want some proper Wodehouse then get the box set of "Jeeves and Wooster" and let Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie show you how it should be done.
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5/10
"i have been reduced to a sound effect in my own story"
shaggydoo17 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I have just visited my mums, and because nothing was on TV,this film was put on. Well now i have seen it and its not that bad, like one of the other posters i found the beginning a bit slow, and too be honest most of the songs were a bit "stage showy" which is not my cup of tea, to use a turn of phrase. what i did enjoy was the idea that Wooster was there to give a solo performance but ends up being over whelmed by a bunch of amateur-dramatics types playing ad-hoc characters within a play. The owner of the hall playing a lord on stage, the lighting man playing a love interest and the two ticket sellers playing love-lorn girls. but best of all a mischievous Jeeves as both a character within the "narration" and as the stage manager constantly providing questionable props to Wooster. And all the time Wooster was constantly losing his way both as the "special guest" and as a character within his own story, being corrected/upstaged by Jeeves."I have been reduced to a sound effect in my own story"

Being English his accent didn't bother me. I have heard worse attempts at the accent and not always by actors, try visiting any of the major city estates to hear badly spoken English.

It would be fun to see this redone as a slapstick farce, without the songs Very PG Woodhouse. And yes i also liked the car "do i look silly with this"
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1/10
More a case of "B(u)y Something Else".....
linda.c18 December 2002
It stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's main problem is that Jeeves and Wooster are probably the most quintessentially English characters in English literature, and Wooster is here played by an American!

What makes it even more unfortunate is his accent, which is worse than Dick Van Dyke's in `Maori Pawpins'. [sic] His accent crossed the Atlantic more times than Concorde, as he seemed unsure whether he was an Etonian or a Bostonian.

Come on! I mean to say, Gwyneth Paltrow managed an excellent English accent in both `Sliding Doors' and `Shakespeare In Love'.........why, oh why, couldn't John Scherer for just one lousy scene??????!!!!!!
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1/10
What on earth???
francesca-lynn9 May 2020
Don't waste your time! Can't tell if it's supposed to be a movie musical or a recording of a live musical. It's awkward, boring, confusing and not funny. Felt like I was watching amateur dramatics.
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