BERNARD AND THE GENIE was a really good Fantasy Comedy-Drama. Every scene with Lenny Henry was hilarious, especially when he is taken to the police station and he has his photos taken and makes silly faces in front of the camera and especially when he accidentally cuts his hand with his sword. Alan Cumming did a good performance as Bernard, and he makes you feel sorry for the character. Rowan Atkinson was good in his famous Blackadder role as Bernard's greedy and corrupt employer. The TV movie has it's moments. Parts of the film were very sad, especially when Bernard says a tearful goodbye to the Genie and Bernard and the Genie's hearts are broken, when Bernard's fiancée has a affair with his best mate and The Genie learns his kittens and his girlfriend have been dead for centuries. Still Bernard and the Genie made a star out of Alan Cumming who went to star in GoldenEye and X-Men 2, both films starred Famke Janssen. BERNARD AND THE GENIE is for all those who are fans of Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson. I hope one-day, Alan Cumming and Lenny Henry reunite and make a long-awaited follow-up "Bernard and the Genie 2", where Bernard reunites with the Genie. It would be nice know what has happened to Bernard, years after the Genie went back home to his own time.

I first remember when this film came out on BBC1 when I was but a child. I remember lying in my room when my parents watched it, listening to my dad laughing all the way through. It was on too late for me to stay up and so it was recorded onto VHS and my parents allowed me and my brother to watch it the next day.Ever since then, it has become tradition in our household to watch this film at Christmas, just as it has always been tradition to eat roast turkey or to decorate the Christmas tree. I have seen it so many times that I know every single word to every single scene and can even mimic the hilarious sequence of movements Alan Cumming does during the 'It'll Be Lonely This Christmas' song.Despite all this, it is still one of the best Christmas films - let alone comedies - to come out of Britain. Lenny Henry's Genie is stupidly naive and every single line makes me laugh out loud. Even the silly humour (like when he uses the toothbrush to clean his ears!) makes me chortle, even now! Alan Cumming is great as the drown-trodden do-gooder Bernard who is done over by his nasty boss, Rowan Atkinson - who, is (as always!) absolutely fantastic in his role... especially during the scene when he fires Bernard: 'bugger-ye off!' Another one of my favourite characters is Kibble, Bernard's lift-man.. look out for him.. another great and properly British character!! The entire film is a non-stop riot of comedy and humour, puns and digs at religion in a light-hearted way, even with a Trevor MacDonald look-alike reading the news. But still, it remains heartfelt and emotional, a journey not only to find love and re-build your life, but also it boils down to the simple message that you cannot simply fix your life with a single wish; it takes hard work and good friends.A fantastic film.. definitely worth seeing!

Forget 'Love, Actually' this is the ORIGINAL Christmas feel good movie by the great writer/director Richard Curtis ('Four Weddings & a Funeral', 'Notting Hill', 'Bridget Jones Diary', 'Mr. Bean', 'Blackadder' and of course 'Love, Actually') Bernard & The Genie is quite possibly one of his finest pieces of writing – despite being his first film the story delivers on every level. Commissioned by the BBC in the early 1990's to be placed in the Christmas Programming it's STILL, nearly 15 years on, better than ever, full of emotion, warmth, pathos and of course trademark Curtis laughs. Its short enough and entertaining enough to keep children hooked from the outset and seems, like many things in life, to get better with age. I was 7 when it was first shown on television, it was fantastic then and it was still fantastic when I watched it last night.The story is simple, our hero (Bernard) is an infallible arts dealer who seems to have both success and good fortune, he's engaged to be married and has just earned his art dealing company £50 million. Then, through a series of very unfortunate events (primarily due to other peoples greed and bad will) he is left jobless, single, broke and lonely (prompting one of many exceptionally worked Christmas hit songs.) Then, while reminiscing about last Christmas he finds a present given to him by his now ex-fiancé...a lamp.What follows is the story of a very unlikely friendship between a hapless ex-arts dealer and a street wise 2000 year old Genie – and the result is a heart warming Christmas treat. It delicately describes both the 'real' reason for and commercial side of Christmas better than any other Christmas film I've seen before or since.The acting is superb, both Alan Cummings (X-Men 2, Spy Kids, Eyes Wide Shut) and Lenny Henry (Chef, The Lenny Henry Show) deliver both comedy and drama to great effect and there on-screen chemistry is something many big budget films fail to create. Rowan Atkinson plays the snide and malicious Charles Pinkworth masterfully, and all the other parts (plus many cameos including Bob Geldof, Melvin Bragg, Gary Lineker and Trevor McDonald) are played brilliantly, particularly Dennis Lill (Fierce Creatures, Evita) as friendly serial-lying doorman Kepple. The music in the film fits in like an old well-loved glove; I was convinced that many of the famous songs were written specifically for the film, the breathtaking score by Howard Goodall (various comedy show themes, The Gathering Storm, Johnny English) is both atmospheric and beautiful.If you're a fan of Christmas films, good British humour, or simply fancy being cheered up I urge you to try and find this film, look beyond some of the more dated jokes and costumes and enjoy a story which is timeless and what I'm sure will one day be recognised as a proverbial 'Christmas Classic'.

I really love this movie. I've seen thousands of films that claim to be 'feel good', but strangely enough none of them actually made me feel good. This one does. It's also quite hilarious, and also sad enough to make me cry at the end. The brilliance that is this film might owe something to the efforts of Lenny Henry, Rowan Atkinson (bugger ye off) and Richard Curtis - not to mention Bernard himself. Another plus factor about this movie is that it really is fit for all ages. Buy it!