Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum) is an American actor working in London. For the last six years he has played "The Tall Guy", a straight man to annoying, egotistical, and outright abusive stage comedian Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson). Fired by Anderson for improvising, he fails a few auditions, commiserates with his nymphomaniac housemate (Geraldine James), meets and falls in love with beautiful nurse Kate Lemmon (Emma Thompson), and finally lands the role in a musical adaptation of The Elephant Man. Referred to by critic Roger Ebert as a "sweet, whimsical and surprisingly intelligent comedy"; it has what is very likely the funniest, and most unintentionally destructive, bedroom scene in the history of film.
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| - Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum) is an American actor working in London. For the last six years he has played "The Tall Guy", a straight man to annoying, egotistical, and outright abusive stage comedian Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson). Fired by Anderson for improvising, he fails a few auditions, commiserates with his nymphomaniac housemate (Geraldine James), meets and falls in love with beautiful nurse Kate Lemmon (Emma Thompson), and finally lands the role in a musical adaptation of The Elephant Man. Referred to by critic Roger Ebert as a "sweet, whimsical and surprisingly intelligent comedy"; it has what is very likely the funniest, and most unintentionally destructive, bedroom scene in the history of film.
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| - Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum) is an American actor working in London. For the last six years he has played "The Tall Guy", a straight man to annoying, egotistical, and outright abusive stage comedian Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson). Fired by Anderson for improvising, he fails a few auditions, commiserates with his nymphomaniac housemate (Geraldine James), meets and falls in love with beautiful nurse Kate Lemmon (Emma Thompson), and finally lands the role in a musical adaptation of The Elephant Man. Referred to by critic Roger Ebert as a "sweet, whimsical and surprisingly intelligent comedy"; it has what is very likely the funniest, and most unintentionally destructive, bedroom scene in the history of film. Tropes present in the film:
* Adorkable: Well, it is Jeff Goldblum after all. Emma Thompson isn't normally this trope; but she takes a good stab at it in this film.
* Crowning Moment of Funny: The sex scene between Dexter and Kate is both hilariously funny and a whirlwind of destruction. Between the two of them, they managed to accidentally break nearly everything in Kate's bedroom.
* Deadpan Snarker: Kate Lemmon. She is British after all.
* Fan Disservice: In-universe for Dexter as well as for the audience; with all the hairy middle-aged men walking around naked in Carmen's house.
* Genius Bonus: One of Dexter's failed audtions is for a play by real-life controversial British stage performer and directory Steven Berkoff; which he fails for not being "angry" enough. Berkoff's plays are known for their angry, violent, "in yer face" style.
* Self Deprecating Humor: Rowan Atkinson plays an exaggerated and obnoxious version of his stand-up stage persona; who is constantly name-dropping the royal family.
* Show Within a Show: Type 1. Dexter lands the lead role in a musical adaptation of The Elephant Man of all things, being performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Roger Ebert refers to it as "the funniest deliberately bad play in a movie since Mel Brooks' "Springtime for Hitler" in The Producers."
* He starts out playing a straight man in Ron Anderson's comedy revue.
* Take That: The Show Within a Show is a brilliant send-up of the modern musical. Several others are also poked fun at in this exchange between Dexter and his agent:
* The Musical: Parodied with Elephant! See Take That above.
* Title Drop: Dexter's role in Ron Anderson's show is listed simply as "The Tall Guy". Being that it's the 6' 4.5" (1.94 m) Goldblum, it's certainly a physically descriptive title.
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