Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmundson have been playing these two characters in one form or another for many years and many incarnations, from the Dangerous Brothers, The Young Ones, Filthy Rich and Catflap, to Bottom...etc, they are always two sleazy, ultra-violent, uber-slapstick, childish loosers. In my view this movie represents this concept at it's brilliant best.
In this movie They play two relentlessly alcoholic slime-balls who's sole goal in life is to make it to the next drink. Two more unsuited "Dreamtime Escorts" you would struggle to find! The Comic Strip franchise produced a wide variety of film types from very subtle to the outrageous, and this movie perfectly represents the later end of that spectrum. In my opinion it is one of the better Comic Strip movies, ranking up there with the other greats such as Bad News and Five Go Mad in Dorest.
The presence of the legendary Peter Cook, appearing as Mr Jolly, adds to the movie's significance in the series.
If you like your humour subtle then this is not a movie for you. If you like a good simple, unsophisticated, childish, cartoon style of humour, and laugh at things such as Eddie trying to light his burps, and Rik knocking back pints of vodka then this movie is for you. Sometimes it is good to laugh at something refreshingly childish! This movie never fails to cheer me up.