A Good Man in Africa

Just as casting can be the making of a film, so it can be its ruination. A case in point is this adaptation of William Boyd's comic novel about the political, diplomatic and sexual machinations surrounding an impending election in the emerging oil-rich state of Kinjana. As frustrated mid-level British diplomat Morgan Leafy, a role tailor-made for Timothy Spall, we have the more bankably handsome Australian actor Colin Friels; as his boorish boss, High Commissioner Fanshawe, we have American John Lithgow, whose 'English' accent has improved not a jot since Cliffhanger; and as Professor Adekunle, wily would-be president of the corrupt African state, Louis Gossett Jr, who appears to be more basketball player than politician. Screenwriter Boyd has turned his laugh-out-loud novel into a groan-out-loud movie.