A Chorus of Disapproval

Based on Alan Acykbourn's play, this mildly diverting comedy boasts the talents of two of Britain's finest actors: Jeremy Irons and Anthony Hopkins. Irons plays Guy Jones, a recently widowed businessman, who's transferred to a new town, and auditions for a role in the local theater production of The Beggar's Opera. Over the course of the film, Guy manages to move from a one-line walk-on to the starring role--mainly through the aid of admiring women in the cast (in particular, the wife of the play's director). But the real star of the film is Hopkins. In his role as the director Dafydd, he stalks the stage (good eye roving maniacally), hurling dictatorial stage directions, and breaking out in apoplectic rages whenever he contemplates the disaster he is about to perpetrate upon an unsuspecting public. In its little details, A Chorus of Disapproval often hits the comic mark. But the broader swipes are generally overdone (this is primarily a fault of director Michael Winner--auteur of the Death Wish series). Recommended for larger fiction collections. (R. Pitman)