Today's review: The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer.
While I was drawn to The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer by the title, I was a little afraid it was going to be a black comedy based on what little I knew about it going in. It’s a British movie about politics made/released in 1970, all of which are indicators that the movie’s humor runs the risk of not meshing with me. And while the movie’s definitely a satire and certainly takes a turn towards black comedy in the third act, it wasn’t as bad as I’d been expecting-in fact, it’s actually pretty good. Furthermore, I know exactly why that was the case.
But first, a summary. A young man named Michael Rimmer (Peter Cook) walks into what appears to be a combination of a polling firm and advertising agency with a clipboard and just wanders from room to room, making notes and getting everyone nervous. When asked, he just says he’s in “coordination”, and based on the weird looks he gets and some evidence a little later on, it’s pretty clear he’s made up the title and has no connection to the firm. At least, not initially; when he presents his findings to the head of the company (Dennis Price), the man is so outraged that he demotes the current manager (Arthur Lowe) and puts Rimmer in charge instead. Rimmer immediately sets to work making his firm the most respected one in the business, using unorthodox and occasionally unethical tactics to do so. Still, he’s getting results, which causes both of the major (British) political parties to try to court him. Rimmer chooses to join the Tory party, and then begins to pull the strings to both undermine the liberal government that’s currently in power while setting things up to take out his competition later on. There are two ways the story can go from here, and based on the title, you may be able to hazard a guess which path we wind up on.
I can pinpoint the exact moment the movie shot up in my estimation; it was at about four and a half minutes in, when the writers credit came up and revealed that two of the writers were John Cleese and Graham Chapman of Monty Python fame, who also were listed as being actors in the movie. While that was no guarantee that the movie was going to be reminiscent of Python, this was made when Monty Python’s Flying Circus was actually in the process of airing, which suggested to me that Cleese and Chapman would be in that absurdist mindset. And I was right, for the most part. The actors are all playing the roles relatively straight, but there’s a huge streak of Python-style ridiculousness running through the movie that will be immediately recognizable to fans. You’ve got the skewering of things like election reporting, the conceit of commonplace things (corrupt businessmen, political speeches) being taken to lengths that just cross the line into ridiculous, and of course the truly impossible and outlandish being taken as normal in this universe. I’m thinking specifically of a moment when a British army regiment wearing kilts and gas masks skis into Switzerland to wage biological warfare on them in order to steal the Swiss gold reserves, but there are a fair few moments like that. It’s not quite as off the wall as Python could get, and the political aspect probably won’t have as much of an impact now as it did in 1970, but if you love that type of humor, it’s mostly going to feel like seeing an old friend.
While the movie’s probably going to be primarily remembered for the moments when the Python sensibility shines through, it really hinges on Rimmer and Cook’s performance, and I think it works there, too. Cook makes Rimmer very pleasant and affable, but you can tell pretty much immediately that he’s a calculating man, always thinking several steps ahead and willing to do whatever it takes to get where he wants to be. As I’ve mentioned before, I like characters who are puppet masters, knowing exactly what to do to get the results they want, and especially if they do it with panache. Combining that with a comedy style I like meant that I was engaged with the movie pretty much all the way through. That being said, however, the movie does subtly shift into a more unsettling register in the third act, which may have been on purpose but may also have just been my dislike of black comedy rearing its head. Either way, it put a damper on my enjoyment and limited the movie’s chances of making it onto my “Best of” list for the year. Though it’s probably going to make it onto my “Biggest Surprises” list…
Ending aside, this is a movie that’s definitely worth a look, especially if you’re a Monty Python fan. I can’t say it’s got something for everyone, nor do I think it’s something children would enjoy (too much politics, not enough weirdness), but I feel like a lot of people would ultimately like it. Sadly, I don’t have the resources to make a poll on that, so you’ll just have to take my word on it.