Review
JAMIE EAST AT THE MOVIES
Misbehaviour is a fun film that exposes many uncomfortable truths
THIS gentle British comedy tells the story of Miss World 1970 and the women’s lib protest that began to change our views on the competition’s naffness.
We are told that 100million people used to watch the global contest, which is more than tuned in for the moon landing.
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The film sees comedian Bob Hope return as host after a ten-year absence.
But the live broadcast, which eventually crowns Miss Grenada to become the first black Miss World, is disrupted by a flour-bomb protest by the Women’s Liberation Movement.
Those two storylines somewhat jostle for position, but never feel compromised.
On one side we have Keira Knightley as Sally, the uptight feminist joining Jessie Buckley’s tie-dyed brigade of libbers.
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And on the other we have Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Miss Grenada and Loreece Harrison as Miss Africa South (thrown in at the last minute to avoid accusations of bias).
The serious messages of the film are handled perfectly adequately, if a little clunkily.
But the comedy seems to rely on the type of gags that demand an audience reaction of, “Oh, wasn’t it awful back then when we used to pat girls on the bum”.
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Rhys Ifans is very good as Eric Morley, the weary competition organiser who just cannot see the world is changing.
Greg Kinnear’s take on Bob Hope (which would surely never have made it to screen were he still alive) is a bit tepid. And his prosthetics make him look like a Harry Enfied/Prince Charles hybrid.
All in all, though, it is a perfectly fun film — with many uncomfortable truths making you wonder how on earth the competition remained as popular as it did for so long.
Misbehaviour (12A) 106mins
★★★☆☆
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