The Tune (1992)

The Tune: Directed by Bill Plympton. With Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron, Marty Nelson, Emily Bindiger. A songwriter in love with his demanding boss’s secretary enters an alternate, wacky world where a much-needed hit tune may be created from his heart.

“I found this film on the shelves of a French hypermarket on a day trip to Calais. Presented in the same font and style as the u0026#39;American Pieu0026#39; films, I have to say that the local French title u0026quot;Medieval pie – Territoires viergesu0026quot; did stand out, which was possibly the intention of the DVD marketing company, trying to trade on the success of a similar and more successful series of teen comedy films. Even now, after the event, Iu0026#39;m still not sure whether any of the cast or crew of u0026#39;Medieval Pieu0026#39; have any involvement with the u0026#39;American Pieu0026#39; franchise at all. Iu0026#39;m doubtful. I get the feeling that this movie will be known under a variety of titles in a variety of markets, and that alone should set the alarm bells ringing in the heads of most sane movie reviewers.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are a few familiar faces on display. Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton and Tim Roth are the three most obvious u0026#39;namesu0026#39;, with u0026#39;Little Britainu0026#39;su0026#39; David Walliams appearing in a blink-and-youu0026#39;ll-almost-miss-him cameo. The main problem is that all these actors are playing characters with hard-to-remember names. Barton is Pampinea, Christensen is Lorenzo (who for some reason masquerades as a deaf-and-dumb gardener in a convent where for some reason all the nuns have sex with him, a central joke that gets tired very quickly, even with all the nudity) while Roth is the main villain, Gerbino de la Ratto. I was rather more impressed with Matthew Rhysu0026#39; Russian Count Dzerzhinsky, who rattled off his name and lineage on several occasions without missing a beat – I could have done with a memory like that to remember exactly who was who. It was a struggle at times.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy favourite scene was probably when the two women who get captured (Rosalind Halstead u0026amp; Kate Groombridge I believe) try and escape by tricking their guards into dropping their trousers and lining up in order of size and then creating an argument about whether you start small and work up, or start large and work down (or even start in the middle!). That was fun. The main love story involving Barton and her three suitors (Christensen, Roth and Rhys) is perhaps not so successful, and the less said about the sex-obsessed nuns the better. Itu0026#39;s an old fantasy for sure, imagining what nuns get up to behind closed convent doors, but not especially original.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;ve seen worse comedies for sure – anything involving Aaron Seltzer u0026amp; Jason Friedberg for one thing, but I have seen better too. I suppose for the genre it represents, this sits somewhere in the middle of the pack, so even though it did bypass the cinemas and go straight-to-DVD, itu0026#39;s not really that bad. It deserves one viewing at least, but whether it will hold up to multiple screenings is much less certain. Iu0026#39;m not sure it will. I guess what Iu0026#39;m really saying, is wait until the sales – donu0026#39;t pay full price for it – unless you have a thing about nuns getting naked, in which case this is a 10/10 movie for sure. For me though, itu0026#39;s just a five.”