Every character you have ever thought was full of himself or herself from Merchant and Ivory, especially the author EM Forster is lampooned here, and the more you know of these books and movies the funnier it is. EM Forster was a homosexual at the start of the 20th century who wrote about the British view of class and being ethnocentric. The movie takes place in Italy and India, as do the EM Forster books. The characters have servants hauling around British turf, sending cricket balls and mallets to prisoners and proving themselves inept at everything from cooking to swimming while being sexually repressed and over educated. This movie has been seriously underrated.

Emily (Georgina Cates), a lovely young British blueblood, lives with her stuffy Aunt Agnes (Prunella Scales) in a beautiful mansion. Her brother, Edward (Samuel West) is bringing home a college friend, Cedric (Robert Portal) in hopes that he may be a good match for Emily. However, although Cedric can quote Homer and dresses meticulously, he is a snob who criticizes nearly everything, including the cucumber sandwiches Aunt Agnes serves for lunch. That, of course, may be the fault of Agnes butler, Hudson, for he is the only servant-cook-bottlewasher in the whole house, and he is too busy to worry about whether the cucumbers are sliced thinly enough. In any case, Emily doesn't really warm up to Cedric but does become quite heated when George (Sean Pertwee), the local poor boy, rescues her from a near-drowning. Emily gets a bad cold from her ordeal and Aunt Agnes decides to take everyone to sunny Italy, including George in the capacity of a servant. Nothing could please Hudson more, as he will have the time to actually sit down and rest. But, will Emily and George be able to hide their budding attraction in such a romantic venue? And, does Cedric have his eye on someone, too? This film is great fun, especially for those, like myself, who adore Merchant & Ivory, David Lean, and others. It sends up such films as A Room with a View, Chariots of Fire, and A Passage to India in a most amusing way. For example, Edward manages to trip the runners at Cambridge, who are attempting to beat the clock in a race around the school's courtyard, while Emily needs a horse, pulling a rope, to get her into her corset. Fun, fun, fun. The cast is truly great, with Peter Ustinov adding to the amusement as a tea plantation owner. West, as some may know, played the unfortunate clerk in Howard's End and it is wonderful to see him getting a chance to smile, for a change. Cates is lovely, Scales a stitch, and Portal's imitation of Daniel Day-Lewis's character in Room with a View is priceless. The scenery is also gorgeous, the costumes very fine, and the production values quite high. All in all, even if you have never seen a Merchant-Ivory or David Lean film, you will still find this an entertaining film. But, if you are a true fan of distinguished British cinema, you will vastly enjoy the opportunity to laugh at this worthy parody.

For anyone who has seen Howards End, Enchanted April, A Passage to India, Carrington, and especially A Room with a View, this is a side-splitter. Though aiming mostly at Merchant-Ivory films, this piece takes on that entire category of films centered on the lives and loves of stuffy late-Victorian and Edwardian Brits of the upper class. Some of the gags are film specific like Edward opening his window in Rome to find a brick wall or character names like Reverend Dweeb. Others, like Emily's panicked flight through a hedge maze the size of closet are broader. I found the entire cast, especially Prunella Scales as Aunt Agnes, to be spot-on perfect. It helps that Scales and West (as Edward) were actually featured in Howards End. Peter Ustinov is also grand as batty Horace. Whether you love or hate this kind of movie, Stiff Upper Lips is a kick.

I love a good parody, and this movie is right on the money! I am an American, and I've enjoyed many British films over the years, particularly Merchant-Ivory fare. I was so (pleasantly) surprised to find that the Brits made such a clever, funny film, and I thought the running gag of the 'typical' American tourist couple, very witty and on target, too! I saw this on Masterpiece Theater, of all things, and I have seldom laughed so hard at anything on PBS since Jeeves and Wooster. What a great movie, I just wish it had more of a theatrical release in America, but I'm not surprised that it didn't. I don't think many Americans 'get' this type of humor anyway. It ranks up there with the best American parodies of genre films. Besides 'Howard's End', 'Room with a View', 'Passage to India', and Brideshead references, there were definite pokes at the Jane Austen-type of films, as well. Very worth renting and/or buying a copy!