The Odd Job

The preconceptions surrounding the Monty Python team and their particular brand of lunacy do not marry well with this solo venture from Graham Chapman. Playing the straight man Arthur, who hires a bungling odd job man (Jason) to perpetrate his 'suicide', Chapman is in need of an outrageous cast in order to reduce the plot to the level of absurdity that this type of humour demands. From his opposite number Diana Quick (as the wife whose desertion provokes the quest for - and subsequent flight from - suicide), all he gets as a foil is over-dramatic acting without the required degree of parody. Hardly rolling in the aisles stuff, but there are some chuckles. Watch for a brilliant performance from Bill Paterson as Morningside Mull of Scotland Yard, and Richard O'Brien's cameo as a gay/bike leather heavy.