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Movie Review: THE PENGUIN LESSONS (2024)
Insert joke about giving Steve Coogan the bird here
El equipo de comedia más divertido de este año, Juan Salvador y Steve Coogan en "¡La Lecciónes del Pingüino!"
THE PENGUIN LESSONS (2024) Peter Cattaneo. Writers: Jeff Pope from a memoir by Tom Michell / Cinematographer: Xavi Giménez (1.85:1) / Designer: Isona Rigau / Editor: Robin Peters / Music: Federico Jusid / Color: Quique Cañadas / Cast: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Björn Gustafsson, David Herrero, Alfonsina Carrocio, Romina Cocca, Hugo Fuertes, and Aimar Miranda / Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics / Rated PG-13 /Length: 110 mIns.
Tom Michell (Steve Coogan), a hollowed-out, easily-pestered shell of an English teacher, spends every waking hour desperately striving to outlive his tragic past. The story here is inspired by real events: as the 1976 Argentine coup d'état looms, British ex-pat Michell lands a gig at the elite boarding school St. George’s College in Buenos Aires. Not everything goes as anticipated. A self-professed sportsaphobe, Michell finds that part of his curriculum includes coaching rugby. (Fortunately, we’re spared a subplot that funnels into a climactic sporting event.)
Always one to keep his sunny side down, Michell tries to find the good in humanity no matter the individual, and fails every time. (Fans of Coogan can hear his voice in their heads as they read along here: “People have two sides to them. Even Joseph Mengele was a nice doctor to some people.”) Upon arriving at the school, Michell observes a maintenance worker scrubbing graffiti off the side of a building. It’s as deep a statement as anything that follows. Like the aquatic bird of the title, the political commentary never takes flight. Trivializing a military coup as a means of advancing a shaggy-penguin movie, no matter how adorable, does no one any good.
Seizing the opportunity to take advantage of classes being temporarily called on account of revolution, Michell books passage on a Uruguayan getaway. The woman with whom he discovers the beached, oil-drenched hero of our story splits, leaving Michell holding the bird. For all its faults, the penguin's lesson isn't about playing dress-up or gaining cheap laughs through humiliation. The funniest thing anyone can do with a penguin is let them loose in polite society and watch as they play themselves.
According to the film’s IMDB Trivia page, “The penguin, Juan Salvador, is named after the eponymous title character of ‘Juan Salvador Gaviota,’ the Spanish translation of the 1970 novella Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.” The multi-functional Juan Salvador acts as Michell’s service dog-cum-therapist, an unflappable web-footed friend who helps Michell come to terms with the death of his 13-year-old daughter at the hands of a drunk driver.
It’s here that director Peter Cattaneo lets his audience down. Cattaneo's main claim to fame is The Full Monty, a 1997 comedy about male strippers that doesn’t have the balls to go full-frontal for the film’s curtain shot. The Penguin Lesson has an even more problematic climax. After going through a box of Kleenex, Cattaneo, determined to send the audience packing with a smile, foists an improbable and hokey happy ending that will make your tears boil. **
Video:
Trailer: The Penguin Lessons
Here's something you might be interested in.
Movie Review: THE PENGUIN LESSONS (2024)
Insert joke about giving Steve Coogan the bird here
Movie Review: THE PENGUIN LESSONS (2024)
Insert joke about giving Steve Coogan the bird here
El equipo de comedia más divertido de este año, Juan Salvador y Steve Coogan en "¡La Lecciónes del Pingüino!"
THE PENGUIN LESSONS (2024) Peter Cattaneo. Writers: Jeff Pope from a memoir by Tom Michell / Cinematographer: Xavi Giménez (1.85:1) / Designer: Isona Rigau / Editor: Robin Peters / Music: Federico Jusid / Color: Quique Cañadas / Cast: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Björn Gustafsson, David Herrero, Alfonsina Carrocio, Romina Cocca, Hugo Fuertes, and Aimar Miranda / Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics / Rated PG-13 /Length: 110 mIns.
Tom Michell (Steve Coogan), a hollowed-out, easily-pestered shell of an English teacher, spends every waking hour desperately striving to outlive his tragic past. The story here is inspired by real events: as the 1976 Argentine coup d'état looms, British ex-pat Michell lands a gig at the elite boarding school St. George’s College in Buenos Aires. Not everything goes as anticipated. A self-professed sportsaphobe, Michell finds that part of his curriculum includes coaching rugby. (Fortunately, we’re spared a subplot that funnels into a climactic sporting event.)
Always one to keep his sunny side down, Michell tries to find the good in humanity no matter the individual, and fails every time. (Fans of Coogan can hear his voice in their heads as they read along here: “People have two sides to them. Even Joseph Mengele was a nice doctor to some people.”) Upon arriving at the school, Michell observes a maintenance worker scrubbing graffiti off the side of a building. It’s as deep a statement as anything that follows. Like the aquatic bird of the title, the political commentary never takes flight. Trivializing a military coup as a means of advancing a shaggy-penguin movie, no matter how adorable, does no one any good.
Seizing the opportunity to take advantage of classes being temporarily called on account of revolution, Michell books passage on a Uruguayan getaway. The woman with whom he discovers the beached, oil-drenched hero of our story splits, leaving Michell holding the bird. For all its faults, the penguin's lesson isn't about playing dress-up or gaining cheap laughs through humiliation. The funniest thing anyone can do with a penguin is let them loose in polite society and watch as they play themselves.
According to the film’s IMDB Trivia page, “The penguin, Juan Salvador, is named after the eponymous title character of ‘Juan Salvador Gaviota,’ the Spanish translation of the 1970 novella Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.” The multi-functional Juan Salvador acts as Michell’s service dog-cum-therapist, an unflappable web-footed friend who helps Michell come to terms with the death of his 13-year-old daughter at the hands of a drunk driver.
It’s here that director Peter Cattaneo lets his audience down. Cattaneo's main claim to fame is The Full Monty, a 1997 comedy about male strippers that doesn’t have the balls to go full-frontal for the film’s curtain shot. The Penguin Lesson has an even more problematic climax. After going through a box of Kleenex, Cattaneo, determined to send the audience packing with a smile, foists an improbable and hokey happy ending that will make your tears boil. **
Video:
Trailer: The Penguin Lessons