Review of Danny Deckchair (2003) by Tanya S — 02 Jan 2008

Danny Deckchair asks the question: Why don't the endearing residents of those charming villages that populate many movies ever watch the TV news? If anyone in town did, this movie would unravel faster than a Britney Spear's weave.

Danny (Rhys Ifans) wants to escape his mundane life as a cement truck driver and his cheating wife Trudy (Justine Clarke)--literally. So at a barbecue he sits in a Sears lawn chair with a couple dozen hot air balloons attached and flies to a small village in Wales.

If this isn't unbelievable enough (although it IS based loosely on a U.S. event), no one in town apparently has heard the nationwide story of Danny's flight and disappearance. No one questions Glenda's (Miranda Otto) story that he is one of her professors.

And because he is a professor everyone thinks he is a sage (sure, THAT's believable). While the story is ridiculous and sappy the move is saved by a winning performance by Ifans, who shined in Notting Hill as Hugh Grant's roomie, as well as nice turns by Otto (Lord of the Rings) and Clarke.