A Bunch Of Amateurs Review

Washed-up Hollywood star Jefferson Steel (Burt Reynolds) agrees to grace the British stage in a production of King Lear — in Stratford, no less. What his agent neglects to tell him is that it’s not the birthplace of the Bard, but a sleepy Suffolk village called Stratford St. John — and an amateur production. Ignoring the fact that this could never happen, the initial culture clash is, as the Queen put it after the premiere, “quite amusing”. Imelda Staunton is a hoot as the smitten owner of a B & B, but plot holes and fittingly unconvincing dialogue make this more amateur than the Stratford Players themselves.