Are You Being Served? The Movie

Are You Being Served? The Movie
John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Frank Thornton
Trevor Bannister, Arthur English, Wendy Richard
BBC TV 1977
Region 1 (North America)
95 minutes

Near the end of Are You Being Served? The Movie one of the characters says, “This is the kind of thing that made Britain great! Stupid, but great!”  This is a perfect take on the full-length movie version DVD of the PBS and BBC classic British situation comedy. Are You Being Served is the classic, even stereotypical British farce with witty dialogue, stock characters, and many innuendoes. As a movie, the sitcom borrows a few bits from the Carry On series but manages to keep things fun.

The premise of Are You Being Served? The Movie is that Grace Brothers is going to close for renovations and to get the staff to agree to take their vacation all at the same time is offering them a two-week all-expenses paid trip to Costa Plonka. The first half or so of the DVD is set in the Grace Brothers store as the staff prepares for its trip abroad. The comedy here will be familiar to the many who watch the series on PBS. The second half takes place in some Spanish like place where there, of course, are problems with the reservations, the language, room assignments, and perhaps even a revolution under way.

Many familiar with Are You Being Served? Will perhaps enjoy the first half or so of this DVD more but the vacation bit is quite funny. All the staff feels a little freer now that the rules have been relaxed so those who have had a certain desire for other members of the staff feel free to explore that feeling. This leads to a lot of tent hopping and misunderstandings. There is also a bit of toilet humor here and there as well as more than a few ribald jokes slipped in for good measure.

Are You Being Served? The Movie is not a classic but quite fun. If you are a fan of the series, you will certainly enjoy it.

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