In his first screenplay, British playwright Michael (Noises Off) Frayn has concocted a delightfully jaunty farce about one man's fight against time. John (Monty Python) Cleese, the headmaster of an exclusive prep school, must get to Norwich to make a historic speech before the all-England Headmasters Conference. He's a punctual and punctilious sort, but when he leaves for Norwich, Cleese begins debating with the ticket-taker about the semantics of "right" and "left." Soon the train for Norwich has gone, the speech manuscript is on a train heading in the other direction and Cleese is launched into a series of events that include stealing a car, vandalizing a phone booth and kidnapping an old flame. All before teatime. Along for the chase is Sharon Maiden, one of Cleese's students. She just broke up with the slow-witted music teacher who has trouble finishing his...that is, he can't end...well, it's that he has problems completing.... Anyway, writer Frayn's oblique wit is equal to his eccentric characters. "It's not the despair," moans Cleese, realizing his chances of getting to Norwich on time are growing slim. "I can stand the despair. It's the hope!" Director Christopher (The Jewel in the Crown) Morahan makes wonderful sense of the whole thing. With Cleese in top form, Clockwise is 96 minutes and four seconds of fun. (PG)
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