Fran Drescher, as nasal as ever, is mistaken for a science teacher and is whisked off to an East European country to instruct the 4 children of widower dictator Timothy Dalton.This is definitely a ripoff of the television series The Nanny. Even Phyllis Newman, who briefly appears as her mother, tries to imitate the great Renee Taylor's Sylvia in the television show. I expected Grandma Yetta to come out but that does not occur.The story is basically where our beautician (Fran) softens the heart of the ruthless dictator. He learns about life from Drescher and the two are finding love until a political situation threatens to end all that.The film is routine in nature.To paraphrase the song from the television show:She was a beautician in the borough of Queens.Until a fire broke out in one of those crushing scenes.What was she to do, where was she to go, she was not working?So to Eastern Europe she flew when she was thought to be a teacher. The dictator, the beast, was quite a creature.She had style, she had class, that's why she became his lover.

I give this movie a 10 because of the tremendous amount of comedy within the dialog, matched with the comic timing skillfully done by Dalton and Drescher. To watch them is like watching Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in "I Love Lucy". Especially when Boris (Dalton) speaks in bad sounding English and Joy (Drescher) mimics him. Dalton's transformation from beast to 'prince charming' is, as always, believable. He also gets the laughs and looks yummy at the same time. Fran is also in her element, because in a movie such as this (vs the sitcom 'the Nanny') she gets a chance to show us her serious side--and she is as believable as when she's zinging those classic comic one-liners. The movie also shows off Dalton's ferocious and highly energetic fencing skills, which is another trademark of his. The high tension built up by Dalton is only brought down by Drescher's light-heartedness and wit. It plays out extremely well with more confrontations to come. And, there's no swearing!Laughter is the best medicine to beat the blues. So, I say enjoy the fairy-tale it's meant to be and get ready to laugh out loud. By the by--if you get to watch this movie on DVD, Fran's commentary is a stream of extra laughs!

"She was there to sell make-up, but the Eastern European dictator saw more.""She had style, she had flair, she was there - that's when she became - the teacher!"Exactly the same sort of "Miss Fine!!" situations.I haven't seen the whole thing, but I'm assuming that he'll tell her he loves her, and then will take it back. She'll re-mould him from being a stere0typical stuffed shirt and everyone will love her. The kids will fall in love with her and she'll be their rock. Eventually the dictator will stop living in denial and finally marry her, go through a few formal embarrassing situations and in the end they'll have boy and girl twins.I just miss the desperate dictator's assistant, her banter with the cheeky butler and the mother who drops in every five minutes to eat something.

I think someone found the right word to describe this film earlier: inoffensive. Even Eastern European dictators might find it hard to find much to complain about. Indeed, so lame is this film I was amazed to learn it was intended for a cinema release, although in my part of Slovetzia it seems to have gone straight to video. Actually, this is a pretty harmless way of spending an hour and a bit if you can accept that this is basically a vehicle for Fran Dreschler, and that, presumably, she has some fans in America who both like her and know who she is.Dreschler plays a beautician who gets mistaken for the new tutor of an eastern European dictator and ends up importing consumerism and the American way of life by stealth to the previously contented communist kingdom of Slovetzia. I say "communist kingdom" because on the strength of this film some Americans don't seem to know the difference between the two. For those of you unfamiliar with Slovetzia, when Errol Flynn was alive it used to be called Ruritania, but later changed its name under communism. These days it is populated entirely by British actors, some of whom attempt mildly Russian accents. You may be as surprised as I was to learn that the tyrannical ruler of Slovetzia is none other than Timothy Dalton. You may remember him from the 1980s when he used to be James Bond. At one point he was even well regarded as a serious Shakespearian actor. What happened to him after leaving the secret service, you might ask? Well, I don't really know, but it can't have been pretty. Somehow he ended up playing second fiddle to Fran Dreschler. I know, a sad end for a man who saved the world at least twice.