The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain is a decent film. It is charming and features a wonderful cast. The story is interesting and quite entertaining. However, the premise would have served better for a short film rather than a feature film. Like many of Woody Allen's movies, the small plot is stretched to suit a film far too long for the idea. This film should have been 40 or so minutes long. Even 70 minutes would have been too long for this type of story. Even though it's a pretty short film in its own right, it was still too long for its story. Aside from that one flaw though, it was a quaint and enjoyable film with a heart and hilarious characters.

A pleasant, unusual comedy. Supposedly based on a real story (but probably not) and set in 1917, it tells the story of two English cartographers (Hugh Grant and Ian McNeice) who arrive in a Welsh village in order to take the measure of the nearby mountain, considered the pride of the locals. According to the height (more specifically, if it is higher than 1,000 feet), it will be determined whether it is indeed a mountain or it is just a hill. When the first measure turns out that it is just a few feet under the 1,000 mark, the anxious villagers will take action. In order to makes sure that it is recorded as a mountain, they will transport dirt and soil from the fields, and to the peak, bucket by bucket. At the same time, they will do everything to prevent the two cartographers from leaving town before they can take a second measure. Eventually, Grant, who falls in love with a local girl (Tara Fitzgerald), will help the villagers in their task (the other cartographer is much more meaner and dismissive of the Welsh). This is a small film in every sense, but it is very warm and funny.

I know this wasn't a huge success. Grant committed to doing it before his huge hit Four Weddings and a Funeral, but it was fun nonetheless.The conflict between the uptight Englishmen and the Welsh villagers over whether they had a hill or a mountain was extremely funny, and their solution - getting Ian McNeice drunk and keeping Hugh Grant busy with Tara Fitzgerald, who also played Grant's wife in Sirens added to the hilarity.The randy barkeep comes up with the solution to the problem, ostensibly to sell more beer, but it gets the whole town working together and make for an enjoyable film.

Despite the fact that it's about almost nothing relevant to the average movie-goer, THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A MOUNTAIN manages to be a charming diversion but ultimately, it's as innocuous as its title.Drawbacks aside, it does offer some hauntingly beautiful color cinematography of Welsh landscapes, day and night, blazing with beauty, some quaint village shots of pubs and lodgings that look invitingly cosy, and some sketchy characterizations that do little more than pad out a rather tedious little tale.HUGH GRANT does another one of his befuddled, amused, eyebrow lifting characterizations, complete with stutter and smile and pause between words, a role he seemed destined to repeat again and again. But he fits the role and the story--which takes place in 1917 Wales.The jaunty musical score compensates for some slow moments but all the actors do a competent job of keeping things on a realistic level. There are no big names in the cast aside from Grant, but they all make their mark while he gets most of the footage for a rather awkward romance with a local girl who spends the night on the mountain with him.Summing up: Not much in the way of a plot, but it manages to be appealing and extremely well photographed.