Nuns on the Run

Dir: Jonathan Lynn

1990

*****

I don’t know if it is a British thing or not but the world didn’t really embrace Nuns on the Run when it came out in 1990. I don’t know why not, Eric Idle was a much loved Python and Robbie Coltrane was pretty well known by then for his TV work – most of which made it overseas. The humour is classical – it’s a cross-dressing farce – inoffensive and the best kind of silly. Director Jonathan Lynn wanted to make it in the style of a classic Ealing Comedy, which he managed, although a cross between Some Like It Hot and a Carry On film would be a more accurate description. I guess you either love this kind of comedy or you don’t, I personally do, but only because it was done right. The spoken comedy and the physical comedy are both near perfect which I think is woefully overlooked with this film. Cross-dressing isn’t funny unless it is performed correctly and Coltrane took to it like a duck to water and Idle is probably the funniest cross-dressing comic next to Terry Jones. The story is quite clever too, with both men playing Brian (Idle) and Charlie (Coltrane), a couple of gangsters who are looking to leave their lives of crime behind them. Being a couple of old school criminals, their lives become more uncertain when the boss of their old firm dies and the new, younger boss takes over and does things his way. The pair hatch an idea to hijack their crew’s plan of robbing a local Triad gang of their drug money before scarpering to Rio. However, during the planning process, Brian meets a waitress called Faith and falls in love with her, even though he knows he’ll have to leave her. The actual robbery goes well until Faith stumbles in on the action looking for Brian and Charlie’s get-away car runs out of petrol. In a panic, the two men run into the nearest building them see with an open door – a nunnery. Fearing the police, their old gang and the Triads are after them, they decide to dress like nuns and lay-low for a while, pretending to be Sisters Inviolata and Euphemia who have transferred from the Church of the immaculate conception (the film’s tag line is The Story of an Immaculate Deception). Faith, having witnessed the gunfight and Brian and Charlie fleeing into the nunnery, follows them and poses as a mature student to get inside. Her gunshot wound is exposed and she is taken to the infirmary. Brian pays her a secret visit and claims he is married in order to end their relationship for her safety. Brian soon changes his mind and tries to find her to ask her to come with them but she has been kidnapped by the Triads and subsequently leads them to the pair’s old crew. It’s a madcap ride from there on, with nuns, Triads, gangsters and police all after the unlucky criminals. Their performances are priceless and I love the ending of the film. It’s silly and ridiculous yes but its so easy and so genuinely funny that I personally find it hard to resist – and why would you? It’s a clever crime caper if nothing else and it’s a million times better than Sister Act anyway. The fast-paced soundtrack by Yello suited it perfectly. Sadly it was the last film for HandMade Films before it was bought by Paragon Entertainment who did very little with it other than release Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Sad after all the classic films they had made. I love it anyway, I believe the people who have dismissed it have either missed the point or don’t get the humor, on reflection I think it is a British thing, one for Brits and Anglophiles but story and tone aside, you can beat the performances and just how joyfully daft the whole thing is. I still can't get over how much Eric Idle looks and sounds like my Gran when he's in drag – that could be another reason why I love it so.