IMPOSTORS, THE

SYNOPSIS:
Actors Arthur (Stanley Tucci) and Maurice (Oliver Platt) are always pretending to be who they are not. One such pretence ends up with them getting free tickets to Hamlet, starring the phenomenally successful and thoroughly nauseating thespian Jeremy Burtom (Alfred Molina). Wrongly accused of physically abusing the over-wrought and under-talented Burtom in an after-theatre bar, Arthur and Maurice find themselves pursued not by big-time directors but by the law. A narrow escape from the cops lands them in a packing crate aboard a cruise ship. But, this is no ordinary ship. On board is a plotting revolutionary, deposed royal, illicit lover, suicidal singer, wealthy sheik, gold-digging mother, grim-hearted daughter, sadistic suitor - and Jeremy Burtom. As Arthur and Maurice attempt to remain incognito -- with the help of irrepressible head stewardess Lily (Lili Taylor) -- they find themselves caught up in a loopy world of ingenues and intrigue. It seems the ship is about to blow up. If Arthur and Maurice can out-perform the many posers and pretenders on board they might just have a chance to save the ship . . . and their own belief that they can play and maybe even be, dramatic heroes.

"This is The Love Boat meets Fast Forward, but sometimes it does manage to be both original and funny, although much of it plays as silly. This is not the fault of the performers, who are all excellent, but of the likeable Tucci himself as the writer and director. Where Chaplin and other physical comics succeed is in quickly creating characters with whom we somehow empathise. There is a simple and singular connection with all those classic clowns, a connection that seems to come from the soul – or at least the heart. They endear themselves to us with a benign humanity Tucci’s central characters lack. This simply divorces the audience from them, making it very hard to care for their fate. But if you enjoy the larger than life antics of a Fast Forward routine, this will give you a lengthy laugh."
Andrew L. Urban