The Good: Costumes? You've got me!
The Bad: Not funny, Wandering plot, No great performances, Dull character arcs, No DVD bonus features.
The Basics: One of the worst Best Picture winners, Tom Jones is stiflingly humorless and not worth being seen.
My loathing of DVD packaging continues. When Tom Jones arrived for me at my local library, I was quite excited by the DVD box to read that Newsweek had once declared the film the "best comedy ever made." Sure, Newsweek is no Film Comment magazine, but if they are going to declare a film the best comedy ever, one would think that it must be pretty funny regardless. Two laughless hours later, I was broken of that misconception and hating Newsweek even more than I had before. The only other thing I knew about Tom Jones before I watched the film also came from the DVD box: as it turns out, this was the final film President Kennedy saw before he was assassinated. Certainly it is in bad taste to say that following Tom Jones, I was ready to have my head shot off, so I'll merely say that I did not enjoy this film and I can find absolutely no reason to recommend it.
Tom Jones is based upon a novel by the same name and this period comedy is not only devoid of humor, but filled with annoying cinematic conceits that are enough to make me shudder. There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is involved with directing and he insists on using a "star wipe" to make the transitions between scenes and one suspects that the writers of that series were subtly mocking director Tony Richardson for the various campy techniques he uses in Tom Jones. From the obvious voiceovers which offer no real information the viewer could not insinuate without them to the overbearing soundtrack utilizing the harpsichord (or possibly a dulcimer) to the strange wipes which make transitions, Richardson seems to be trying to make up for a lame script with special effects that are anything but. I am not one for screwball comedy, but even slapstick works I have not thoroughly enjoyed have usually garnered a few laughs from me. Tom Jones netted zero laughs.
Left in the bed of a wealthy gentleman, Tom Jones is an orphan raised in a household of privilege where he grows to be a young man without any religion and a love of the ladies. Being accused of getting Molly pregnant, Tom Jones is disgraced and his love-at-first sight for Sophie Western is instantly cooled. But when participating in a deer hunt, Sophie's horse carries her away and Tom Jones rescues her, breaking his arm in the process. But as Tom and Sophie get closer, the locals become offended by him and his womanizing past is used to drive a wedge between him and Sophie. Driven out through the machinations of Blifil, the nephew of Tom's benefactor and the competitor for his inheritance, Tom sets upon the road.
On the road, he finds many opportunities to be unfaithful to Sophie, though circumstances usually conspire to present his lust from actually being sated. Rescuing a woman from being beaten, Tom ends up in an inn which Sophie follows him to. Being run out, Jones takes up with a society woman and discovers his long lost father, yet continues to pine for Sophie, who remains on his trail!
The moment which came closest to garnering a smile in the entire two hours of Tom Jones was when a snooty old woman who has been berating all of the men stands up to a highwayman. Refusing to even stop for the robber who demands at gunpoint that she "stand and deliver," she engages in witty wordplay and rides past. This exchange, possibly thirty seconds, does not justify this film.
Tom Jones is a period comedy that alternates between screwball physical comedy - like Tom being chased out of an inn or sneezing while using snuff - and situational comedy, like the misunderstanding that comes Tom running excited through the manor rejoicing over his benefactor remaining alive after a carriage accident which claimed the life of Blifil's mother. There is physical comedy like Tom sneaking one of his lovers out of his room by kissing deeply the one who arrives second and having the first simply pass behind her while so distracted. There is also verbal comedy, which is far less common in the film, like the exchange between Tom and the "queen of the fairies" about keeping women waiting. The film might try hard, but it is homogeneously unfunny.
Part of the reason for this is that none of the characters truly pop. Tom Jones is very much a typical womanizer and Sophie is a very bland, 19th Century Englishwoman (in other words, a prude). Most of the characters are concerned with upholding traditional English mores and the comedy tends to come from the way Tom Jones defies such mores. But the film is very much a one-trick pony with Jones being chased around the countryside by people he has offended without any of the characters ever growing or developing.
As for the acting, that, too, is fairly flat and unimpressive. Of the leads, I had only seen Susannah York before in Superman and in this she runs around in a period-correct dress, but is pretty much the obvious damsel in distress. Talent like that of David Warner as Blifil is wasted in a supporting role which does not give him a chance to use his presence. The cast is led by Albert Finney and he plays the title character as a hapless scamp, but without any genuine charisma. In other words, it is hard to see how Tom gets so lucky with so many ladies when he doesn't have much in the way of energy or genuine sex appeal. Finney does the best he can with the script he was given, but the role is fairly monolithic and he lacks a sense of comic timing to salvage any of the more mediocre moments.
On DVD, Tom Jones comes with no bonus features, save the movie's original theatrical trailer. Considering this is a comedy without the benefit of humor, this DVD could seriously have used a Mystery Science Theater 3000 track to make it entertaining. As it stands, the fact that it has decent costumes is not enough to bother with this film.
[As a winner of the Best Picture Oscar, this is part of my Best Picture Project, which is available here! Please check it out!]
For other period pieces, please visit my reviews of:
The Piano
The Red Violin
An Ideal Husband
.5/10
For other film reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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