I grant you that PETER COOK and DUDLEY MOORE are two very talented British performers but even their kind of talent needs a better than average script to overcome the tired gags conjured up to give a new spin to the Faust legend.
Cook is a dim-witted short order cook who gets to realize some of his wishes (but always with a hex on all of them) from devil Cook, and the film is a series of jokes with Cook's best laid plans always going amok as he struggles to find and conquer his true love.
DUDLEY MOORE completely nails his Stanley Moon characterization, as does PETER COOK with his sharp and snotty comments as the Devil, always up to no good. But the story concept wears thin by the time the first hour is over--and the last forty-four minutes are simply tiresome repeats of previous vignettes. RAQUEL WELCH is amusing as a seductress in one brief scene.
The later remake with BRENDAN FRASER was a lot more enjoyable. This one depends entirely on your appreciation of British humor gone amok.
Cook is a dim-witted short order cook who gets to realize some of his wishes (but always with a hex on all of them) from devil Cook, and the film is a series of jokes with Cook's best laid plans always going amok as he struggles to find and conquer his true love.
DUDLEY MOORE completely nails his Stanley Moon characterization, as does PETER COOK with his sharp and snotty comments as the Devil, always up to no good. But the story concept wears thin by the time the first hour is over--and the last forty-four minutes are simply tiresome repeats of previous vignettes. RAQUEL WELCH is amusing as a seductress in one brief scene.
The later remake with BRENDAN FRASER was a lot more enjoyable. This one depends entirely on your appreciation of British humor gone amok.