The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (I) (1982) User Reviews

Worth this song alone

[chahn-1 · 8/10 · 8 August 2005]

Neil Innes singing his song "How sweet to be an idiot".

This is a totally cool film, but this innocent/crazy song was so memorable.

The comedic side-act are off the wall.

I loved the two dudes holding their arms in the air and running back and forth past each other, as if they were trapeze artists, while singing a classic circus tune.

But for Neil alone this is one to see.

This was an early work of the philanthropic Bob Geldof too.

This is a filer sentence, to pass inspection. I have said what I wanted to.

Dropping the Ball

[owen-watts · 6/10 · 2 January 2022]

After the breakout hit of the first official Policeman's Ball, two years later they went harder in every direction. There are bigger names, there's a proper director, there are newer edgier comedians but they end up with a weaker show. Now, there's a few different versions of this floating around but the one I saw was pretty overloaded with music. It's more than two thirds Sting, Phil Collins et al warbling away and the final group number has Neil Innes and Tom Robinson joining in - where were they? It's nice to see a very young Victoria Wood and Alexei Sayle but the less said about the rest of it the better. The Cleese & Atkinson sketch at the top of the show is really the highlight of it all - and a glimpse of what they chucked away.

Brilliant

[eightx10 · 16 August 2000]

Do not miss this one; it has comedy sketches from not only the pythons, but also Rowan Atkinson in top form. Also has some great Neil Innes songs. The only thing that would have made this better would be the presence of Eric Idle.

You won't have a ball

[videorama-759-859391 · 2/10 · 28 May 2020]

I expected pretty much what I got from this sub par film, and as far as laughs go, I was horribly disappointed. It's as if all the gags were above me, one unfunny comic after the other. I thought the gags were stupid, the songs by great British artists were a relief, even the cynical sounding Sting, the third act in. This is a movie, a director's name attached, I wasn't surprised to discover. Nothing beats Temple's Bullet (1996) where Running Out Of Luck (1985), was a colorfully exciting mess. You could easily call this film, Running Out Of Laughs, if there were any to begin with. This filmed concert was to raise money for Amnesty International, the only true and worthy attribute of this show. The other was Dame Edna, "thank God, for you girl". If you wanna see British comedians/actors you love, make idiots of themselves with some of the unfunniest stuff imaginable, go for it. Michael Palin, a great actor, in the finale, shouldn't of wasted his time. The late Tim Brooke Taylor, was a surprise to show up in this, and Rowan Atkinson, was frequently annoying as with mostl the others. God if there's another Secret Policeman's Ball out there, that's a horrifying reality I couldn't comprehend.

If you don't expect it to be particularly funny, it's worth seeing...or at least listening.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 14 May 2011]

The first Amnesty International benefit film, "The Secret Policeman's Ball", consisted almost exclusively of British comedy--with many of the top comedians the country had to offer--including almost all the Monty Python members. However, by this 1982 film, some changes had occurred. Despite IMDb saying something about the Monty Python alumni, only two of the group are in this one. Many of the other performers are faceless to the average American aside from a young Rowan Atkinson. However, comedy now only made up half the show--the rest were big-name musicians from the era, such as Sting and Phil Collins. Now if the comedy had been good, the music (if you don't care for it) could be ignored and the film still be worth seeing. Unfortunately, none of the skits were particularly funny. In fact, there was almost no laughter to be had if you see it today. Such unfunny skits included one about anonymous gay sex, nude dancers (actually just dressed guys with paper over their naughty bits), a couple decent impersonations (of Mr. Thatcher and Reagan) and a tacky joke about deaf people.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing that interested me in this film. Now to put it in context, I LOVE British comedy (my favorite comedies are all British--such as "Monty Python", "The Vicar of Dibley", "Mr. Bean", "Little Britain" and "Waiting for God"). But, I do not like improvised BAD British comedy, so there is absolutely no way I'd recommend this. In fact, I was so disappointed that the music was actually better (and funnier) than the skits.