Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 122

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Popular Culture Review

(Fenella Fielding), a vague, rich and aging client from whom Eddie and Richie
attempt to extoit additional rooming fees on a near-daily basis. The only other
guests are the members of the aptly-named Nice family, Mr. and Mrs. Nice (Simon
Pegg and Lisa Palfrey), and their children Damien (Joseph Hughes) and Charlene
(Jessica Mann).
Upon arriving at Guest House Paradiso for their “dream vacation,” the mem
bers of the Nice family are aghast at the decrepit nature of their accommodations,
but as Mr. Nice informs his wife and children, “this is the cheapest guest house in
all of England, and it’s all we can afford, so we’ll just have to make the best of it.”
As the Nice children repair to the children’s play area (strategically located at the
edge of the cliff) for a nearly fatal round on the swing set, “internationally famous”
Italian film star Gina Carbonara (Helene Mahieu) arrives incognito, hoping to throw
the pursuing paparazzi off her trail. She, in turn, is followed by her jilted lover, the
outrageously macho Gino Bolognese (Vincent Cassell), who will do anything to
retain Gina’s affection.
. In all of this, Richie Twat (it’s pronounced ''th w aite'' he continually insists to
no avail) and the slow-witted Eddie Elizabeth Ndingombaba (Mayall and
Edmondson, respectively) retain their air of bumbling incompetence (Eddie) and
sneering pomposity (Richie), as they force their guests to eat radioactive fish washed
up on the beach for the main dinner entree to keep costs down, while robbing the
guests of whatever valuables they may possess, even as they remain completely
oblivious to all client complaints. The film concludes with a marathon vomiting
sequence, in which all of the hotel’s guests fall seriously ill due to the nuclear
cuisine, although only the putative villain of the piece, Gino, dies as a result of his
brush with toxic poisoning.
Just as it looks as if Richie and Eddie’s entire investment in the guest house
will be forfeited due to their incompetence, greed, and thievery, a top-secret depu
tation from the British government (which is apparently even more corrupt than
either Richie or Eddie), arrives with two gigantic suitcases stuffed with £ 100 notes,
offering the pair the money, and asylum on a tropic isle, if they will only sign a
document that attests (in part) that they have “never been in England, or even
heard the word ‘radioactivity.’” Without a moment’s hesitation, Richie and Eddie
sign, and the film ends with the pair comfortably ensconced in the lap of primitive
luxury in the tropics (very much like an old Bing Crosby/Bob Hope R oa d
Some reviewers have compared the film to episodes of the John Cleese
teleseries F au lty Towers, and although there is a superficial resemblance, this is
only part of the equation. The centerpiece of G u est H ouse Paradiso is first, last
and always violent slapstick, and Richie and Eddie’s motivations throughout the
film are never honorable, even for a second. One abortive scheme leads to another,
all in a mad quest for personal and selfish gain. Both men are devoid of even a