A Good Man in Africa (1993)
Director: Bruce Beresford
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
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.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Bruce Beresford
Producer: Mark Tarlov, John Fiedler
Cast: Colin Friels, Sean Connery, John Lithgow, Diana Rigg, Louis Gossett Jr, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Timothy Spall full cast
Duration: 94 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now