Coogan's movie gets a mauling

Steve Coogan’s first mainstream Hollywood movie has been slated by the critics.

Around The World In 80 Days has been condemned as a ‘dumbed-down’ version of Jules Verne’s original story, reduced to a “moronic farce” to showcase Jackie Chan's martial arts skills.

But Coogan, who plays inventor Phileas Fogg to Chan's Passepartout, has escaped the mauling, with many reviewers tipping him as the next Peter Cook.

The $100million Disney movie, released in the States this week, is a career breakthrough for the Alan Partridge star, who until know has been known only to the few American movie-goers who saw the cult Britflick 24 Hour Party People.

But the new blockbuster has been slated as a vapid reworking of the story; “an exceedingly lame vehicle for an increasingly tired-looking Jackie Chan” and a  poor relation of the 1956 David Niven yarn, at best offering some mindless adventure for children.

USA Today summed up the critical consensus about Coogan’s role, noting that his “renowned dialect skills can't make the movie any more interesting”.

The Boston Globe said: “Coogan, normally a brisk and witty actor, breezes through on pleasant autopilot,” in a role described by the Hollywood Reporter as “a British twit who falls somewhere between Hugh Grant and Peter Cook”.

The similarity to Cook was also noted by the Washington Times which said Coogan “may or may not ripen into the second coming of Peter Cook”.

Canadian newspapers reached the same verdict, with the Winnipeg Sun concluding: “Phileas Fogg is practically invisible. Which is a shame, because Coogan plays his role with dry wit and sarcasm that gives the movie a little flavour and some life between the punchouts.”

Online magazine Salon echoed that sentiment, saying Coogan“flails, valiantly [but] the picture's muddy timing and overly broad gags do him no favours”.

Only the New York Post criticised Coogan. In the most scathing review of the whole “disgraceful” film, critic Lou Lumenick said: “Steve Coogan [is]  a painfully unfunny British TV comedian whose "acting" is limited to endlessly widening his eyes and arching an eyebrow.”

Published: 16 Jun 2004