Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Soft Top, Hard Shoulder (1992)
Director: Stefan Schwartz
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Having failed to make it in London as a comic-book artist, Gavin Bellini (Capaldi) - an Italian-Glaswegian from an ice-cream dynasty - reluctantly yields to his uncle's demands that he return home for his dad's sixtieth birthday party; if he makes it, the uncle (Wilson) may give him a share of the family fortune. But as he heads north in his worn-out Triumph convertible, Gavin meets countless obstacles. When the car breaks down, hitcher Yvonne (Collins) helps to get it going, but Gavin soon tires of her company. Worse, he loses his wallet, and their progress becomes ever slower. Will Gavin reach the party on time? Can he and his feisty passenger put aside their differences? The echoes of It Happened One Night and Bill Forsyth's comedies are rather too strong, but Capaldi's script has its fair share of engagingly offbeat one-liners, and the characters are deftly sketched. The ending doesn't convince, and Schwartz's direction is erratic, but overall this is a modestly enjoyable comedy.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Stefan Schwartz
Producer: Richard Holmes
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Elaine Collins, Richard Wilson, Frances Barber, Phyllis Logan, Simon Callow, Catherine Russell, Jeremy Northam full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 95 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