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Plot

Tony award-winning British musical comedy star Robert Lindsay makes his first important American film appearance in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool. Lindsay, of course, plays the title character, a coal miner who dreams of becoming a big showbiz star. Only problem is, there's very little demand for Bert Rigby's impersonations of Buster Keaton and Gene Kelly. Undaunted, Bert heads to Hollywood, where, while working as a butler in the household of movie mogul Jim Shirley (Corbin Bernsen), he must fend off the advances of Shirley's hot-to-trot wife, Meredith (Anne Bancroft). Befitting the old-fashioned nature of Bert Rigby's behavior and tastes in entertainment, director Carl Reiner adopts a "retro" approach to his material; at times, the film looks as though it was made in 1939 rather than 1989, despite its R-rated sex, profanity, and body-function jokes.
MPAA Rating:
Genre(s):
Comedy,Family,Musicals
Run Time:
94min.
Theatrical Release Date:
02/24/1989
Distributor(s):
Warner Brothers
Director(s):
Carl Reiner
Starring:
Robert Lindsay , Cathryn Bradshaw , Robbie Coltrane , Anne Bancroft , Corbin Bernsen
Themes:
Down on Their Luck,Success is the Best Revenge,Social Climbing
Tone:
Irreverent,Light,Nostalgic,Whimsical
Keywords:
butler,celebrity,coal-miner,impersonation,show-business,wife
Country of Origin:
USA (02-24-1989)