Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

chaswe-28402 Humour is funny. Some people laugh loudly at what others don't. This film is paired on a single disc with The Green Man, which for me is the funniest ever produced. Yet SFS sits marginally higher on the IMDb rating list. I don't get it. The substance and script of this offering is insufficient. There's not much of a story and no plot. Ineffective executive loser takes a ridiculous expensive course in how to be overbearing and becomes a winner. Its pace drags.The one-upmanship joke is a one-joke joke. Once you've heard it once or possibly twice, it ceases to be funny, and, in my view, doesn't amuse any more. Here, it goes on and on, interminably. Terry-Thomas is wasted. He can be hilarious, but only in special situations, and relatively small doses. The Hattie Jacques episode is entirely pointless. That tennis match grows frankly tedious, and is suffered twice. A sports scenario, predicated on actual skill, does not exactly lend itself to one-upmanship, which only has purpose in social settings. Ian and Alastair are OK, but in a restricted sort of way. I didn't actually laugh, and really only smiled if I was feeling generous. The Swiftmobile was impressive, but the sales spiel from Dennis and friend, larded with verbosity, went on far too long. Janette was easy on the eye. Insufficient compensation for the general emptiness.

bkoganbing In a sense School For Scoundrels was years ahead of its time because today what Alastair Sim was be doing would be called motivational speaking. I'd hate to think what he could be charging today for his self improvement lectures. Ian Carmichael has some self esteem issues, he just thinks he's a loser in the game of life. Most especially a pretty girl he literally ran into played by Janette Scott is being given a first class rush by that cad Terry-Thomas.I think you can figure what happens after Carmichael takes a few courses at Sim's College of Oneupmanship. Just see the two contrasting tennis games that are played by the rivals.Terry-Thomas with that rakish mustache is so perfect when burlesques Snidely Whiplash like villains on the screen. And Norman Vincent Peale might have approved of Sim's take on the power of positive thinking. Not exactly what Peale had in mind, but much more fun.

Adam Peters (64%) A superbly watchable classic British comedy that may dabble in silliness from time to time, but there's very few films from this era that are more fun. The cast is filled with some of the better performers of the time with the always very good Alastair Sim as the essentially the headmaster of this school for cheats, the perfectly cast rival Terry-Thomas, with the ideally good Ian Carmichael in the lead role. Memorable scenes involve the now classic wreck of a car sold by some dodgy dealers, and the very fun "hard cheese old boy" tennis sequences. Anyone fond of classic comedy should without doubt give this a look.

Enoch Sneed While it is usually sent to the second division of Alastair Sim films (behind such classics as "The Green Man", "Scrooge", and "Green for Danger") this is one of my favourites.Although the credits say the film is based on 'novels' by Stephen Potter, they are really spoof 'self-help' manuals on how to get ahead in life. For example, if you are at a party where someone is talking to an admiring group about a country you have never visited (and don't even know) listen quietly until they give an opinion such as: "Left-wing politics are on the rise in Turkmenistan" and say "Yes, but not in the South." This is the 'Canterbury Block', which gives everyone the impression you are more of an expert than the speaker.In this film Ian Carmichael attends Potter's College of Lifemanship to learn how to overcome those who belittle and take advantage of him (and to win the girl of his dreams). His principal rival is Terry-Thomas with his snazzy Italian sports-car and constant refrain of "Hard cheese!" at tennis (you will want to knock his head off!). Sim acts first as Carmichael's tutor, then assists him in his 'oneupmanship' ploys. There is a great support cast, too: Dennis Price and Peter Jones as shady car dealers, Hugh Paddick and Hattie Jacques as college tutors, and Edward Chapman as the office manager from hell.Another reason for my affection for this film is that I saw it as a boy with my dad and we both laughed our heads off (especially at Sim's closing speech). We didn't have a close relationship and these moments were few and far between, but I always remember this when I watch "School for Scoundrels".