''Guest House Paradiso'' is a 1999 British

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

film written by and starring comic duo

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...

and

Adrian Edmondson Adrian Charles Edmondson (born 24 January 1957) is an English actor, comedian, musician, writer and television presenter. He was part of the alternative comedy boom in the early 1980s and had roles in the television series '' The Young Ones'' (1 ...

, who also directed in his film directorial debut. The film is a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

of their BBC comedy television series '' Bottom'' (in some territories, the DVD cover refers to it as ''Richie and Eddie's Bottom Movie''). Mayall and Edmondson reprise their roles from the series respectively as Richie and Eddie, albeit with different surnames. The film was made at

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever ...

and on location on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

, off Military Road A3055, between the villages of Afton and

Brighstone Brighstone is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, 6 miles southwest of Newport on the B3399 road. Brighstone was previously known as "Brixton". The name derives from the Saxon name " Ecgbert's Tun". Brighstone is the largest v ...

Plot

Richard "Richie" Twat (

) and Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Ndingombaba (

) run the worst guest house in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Their staff include a

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

, an idiotic drunkard and an illegal immigrant who is unable to cook, and a waiter, who is implied to have checked into a psychiatric hospital. Both leave because of nonpayment for their employment, with the latter quitting because of the verbal abuse from his boss. The guests, including Mr Johnson (

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

), who reside in the pair's hotel are thoroughly dissatisfied by the poor service especially Richie's rudeness, and eventually decide to leave, except for the senile Mrs Foxfur ( Fenella Fielding), who lives there. Life seems bleak for Richie and Eddie, until it seemingly improves with the arrival of the "Nice family", headed by Mr Nice (

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...

), and the famous Italian actress Gina Carbonara (Hélène Mahieu). The Nice family are staying as it is the cheapest hotel in the country, and Gina's decision to stay in the grotty house is primarily down to her need to seek safety from her ill-tempered fiancé Gino Bolognese (

Vincent Cassel Vincent Cassel (; ; born 23 November 1966) is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled French Jewish youth in Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film ''La Haine (Hate)'', for which he received two César Award nom ...

). Without the chef, the duo are forced to cook meals for the guests; luckily, however, Richie comes across some

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

which fell off a military lorry, heading away from the nearby

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

station. Unknown to both him and Eddie, the fish had been contaminated by a radiation leak due to the power station's poor maintenance and equally poor safety regulations. Thanks to the pair promoting her stay to attract more guests, Gino eventually finds her, and after an

elopement Elopement is a term that is used in reference to a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, usually involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting ma ...

between the two, Gino attempts to

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

Gina. Meanwhile, hours after serving the radioactive fish, everybody becomes violently ill, projectile-

vomiting Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenter ...

at high velocity and in huge quantities – all except for Gina Carbonara, the only guest who did not eat the fish due to Gino eating it all for himself. In a getaway, Richie and Eddie quickly pack their bags, and are serendipitously reunited with Gina, who they escape with. In an act of spontaneous nausea, every guest projectile-vomits on Gino at once, forcing him backwards out through a window and off a cliff into the ocean, killing him. Government agents arrive to hush up the incident and give Eddie and Richie £10 million, first-class tickets to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

, and new identities for both them and Gina, in exchange for their silence over the leak. The three accept the offer and head to the Caribbean and start a beach bar called "Beach Bar Paradiso". In the film's final scene, Eddie winks to the camera after commenting "How lucky inowas the only fatality. Otherwise there'd be a moral question-mark hanging over our escape."

Cast

as Richard "Richie" Twat *

as Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Ndingombaba *

as Gino Giuseppe Bolognese * Hélène Mahieu as Gina Tortellini Carbonara *

as Mr. Johnson * Kate Ashfield as Ms. Hardy *

as Mr. Nice * Fenella Fielding as Mrs. Foxfur *

Lisa Palfrey Lisa Palfrey (born 9 February 1967) is a Welsh actress. She is known for playing the roles of Gwenny in ''House of America'' (1997), Mrs Nice in ''Guest House Paradiso'' (1999), Maureen in ''Pride'' (2014), Mrs Dai Bread 1 in ''Under Milk Woo ...

as Mrs. Nice * Steve O'Donnell as Chef Lardy Barsto * James D'Arcy as Newly Wedded Husband * Kate Loustau as Newly Wedded Wife * Paul Garcia as Screen Lover

Background

Prior to the film's production in 1998,

was involved in a quad bike accident, almost killing him and resulting in Mayall being in a coma for some time. During his hospitalisation, Mayall and Edmondson began writing the script for the movie and were inspired to write the hotel backdrop after their stays at some during their tours of the ''

Bottom Live ''Bottom Live – The Stage Show'' is a live stage show based on the UK TV series '' Bottom''. It ran in 1993 and was recorded for VHS (and later DVD) release at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. It was written by its stars, Rik Mayall as R ...

'' shows. The title is taken from the 1988 film

Cinema Paradiso ''Cinema Paradiso'' ( it, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, , literally "New Paradise Cinema") is a 1988 coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Set in a small Sicilian town, the film centers on the friendship between a young ...

Reception

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' gave the film a 2 out of 5 star rating, stating that "The boys toil incredibly hard to make the whole thing work and, while there are some hilarious moments, it is far too patchy for a full feature film."

References

External links

* * * {{Bottom (TV series) 1999 films 1999 comedy films 1999 directorial debut films 1990s black comedy films Bottom (TV series) British black comedy films British slapstick comedy films Films based on television series Films directed by Adrian Edmondson Films scored by Colin Towns Films set in hotels Films set in England Films shot in England Self-reflexive films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films