All the Queen's Men

All the Queen's Men
Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Produced by Rainer Virnich
Phil Alden Robinson
Written by David Schneider
Starring Matt LeBlanc
Eddie Izzard
James Cosmo
Karl Markovics
Music by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen
Robert Folk
Michael Lloyd
Cinematography Peter Kappel
Wedigo von Schultzendorff
Edited by Rudi Heinen
Nick Moore
Britta Nahler
Andrea Schumacher
Production
company
Streamline
Distributed by Strand Releasing
Release dates
 October 14, 2001 (U.S. Mill Valley Film Festival)
October 25, 2002 (limited)
December 13, 2001 (Germany)
June 7, 2002 (Austria)
Running time
 100 min.
Country Germany / Austria
Language English
Budget $15,000,000

All the Queen's Men is a 2001 action comedy war film. It was directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and stars Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard. Made on a budget of $15mn,[1] the film earned only $22,723 in the United States, yielding an approximate -99.92% return.[2][3]

Plot

During World War II the British army is attempting to retrieve an Enigma machine from Germany. Having failed in previous attempts they decide to send four men undercover to the factory that makes the devices, deep in Berlin. Unfortunately the factory is populated entirely by women, and they only have men to send. American O'Rourke (LeBlanc), British transvestite Tony Parker (Izzard), genius Johnno (Birken) and the reluctant Archie (Cosmo) are sent to infiltrate the factory dressed as women.

Dropped in the wrong area, the team must first try to find their bearings. Aided by Romy, a sympathiser to their cause, they find their way to the factory. They manage to retrieve the Enigma machine, against the expectations of the British army. Just before they leave Germany, they realize they were tricked - the British government already had the device, but wanted to make the Germans think they were still after it. They were specifically chosen as the team most likely to fail. That they are about to successfully leave Germany with an Enigma machine would, in fact, destroy the usefulness of the machine, as the Germans would know it was stolen and switch to a different code system. Archie volunteers to be captured with the machine to allow the mission to "fail". After he is captured, the team retrieves him and returns safely to England, leaving the Germans with the impression they have all the Enigma machines and the British are still desperate to obtain one.

Cast

Reception

Roger Ebert mentioned the film in his book Your Movie Sucks, terming it "a perfectly good idea for a comedy, but it just plain doesn't work." Ebert also mentions the problem with the plot being about retrieving an Enigma machine when "Anyone who has seen Enigma, U-571, or the various TV documentaries...will be aware that by the time of the movie, the British already had possession of an Enigma machine... The movie has an answer to it, but it comes so late in the film that although it makes sense technically, the damage has already been done."[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ All the Queen's Men (2001) - Box office / business
  2. ↑ The Numbers - Movie Budgets
  3. ↑ All the Queen's Men (2002)
  4. ↑ Ebert, Roger (2007). Your Movie Sucks (1st ed. ed.). Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Pub., LLC. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7407-6366-3.

External links