The director Michael Lindsay-Hogg has a name that sounds British despite the fact that he is a New Yorker by birth. Maybe that association derives from the fact that he's primarily helmed television films--segments of Brideshead Revisited, for example, as well as a pile of music videos for English bands like the Who and the Rolling Stones. One of his few ventures into feature filmmaking (another was the little-seen Frankie Starlight) is the 1990 film The Object of Beauty, which also looks, sounds, and feels British in sensibility. The film is set in a tony London hotel, the weather is England-dreary, and the clothes (when the actors are wearing them) are tweedish and woolly in appearance. And the story is essentially repressed and internal save for the brash American performances of John Malkovich and Andie MacDowell, who play a couple living way above their limited financial means. When Jake (Malkovich) bottoms out in a business deal, he urges Tina (MacDowell) to sell her little Henry Moore sculpture, an object of great beauty. Such beauty, in fact, that a young mute hotel maid decides to steal it for her own. The actress Rudi Davies, who plays the maid, steals more than the Moore, however. She sneaks the film out from under Malkovich and MacDowell, who was just coming off of her sex, lies, and videotape acclaim, and who is quite good here as well. The Object of Beauty is too subtle in its message--Jake and Tina lose their last monetary chance and in penury begin to discover who they are as people--to let us care about such a pouty pair, and the "hilarious mix-ups and mayhem" that the film promises are, in actuality, tame and trite. --Paula Nechak
2.
Jake and his girlfriend Tina reside at a ritzy London hotel... which they can't afford. They have in their possession a small statue sculpted by Henry Moore, a gift from Tina's estranged husband. The financially troubled Jake is entertaining thoughts of selling the artwork -- worth $50,000 -- to solve some of his money problems. But a wrench is thrown in the works when a maid enamored with the figure steals it, although she is unaware of its high value. This puts a wedge in Jake and Tina's relationship, as each believes the other has stolen the statue...
3.
A Romantic Comedy About The Art Of Thievery
Jake and Tina are a sexy, jet-setting couple, madly in love and living far beyond their means in a posh London hotel. Confronting a lifestyle-and-death situation, they plot the phony theft of Tina's prize sculpture to collect the insurance.
Unfortunately, Jake and Tina aren't the only crooks in London. When a real thief snatches the sculpture, the lovers immediately suspect each other of a double cross. The accusations fly and the investigations go into high gear, leading to a hilarious predicament of mix-ups and mayhem!
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