Shooting Elizabeth (1992) User Reviews (11)

Awfully simple comedy.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 4/10 · 5 June 2004]

This movie is rather unknown (only 85 vote on IMDb at the moment) and it should stay unknown.

The movie is very simple. It's very predictable and for a comedy it has very few laughs. Also the style itself is simple and about as average as it can be. The story is not really good and doesn't always flow or makes sense and is filled with some rather big plot-holes.

Jeff Goldblum on the other hand is good and comically talented and so is Burt Kwouk's (Cato from the "Pink Panther" series) in his small but fun role. But quite frankly all of it is not good enough to save this movie.

It is no disaster but it's not recommendable either.

4/10

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Second honeymoon

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 12 July 2006]

Mineral water executive Howard Pigeon has married the wrong woman. Elizabeth, his beautiful wife, is irritating, opinionated, and everything he hates a woman to be. Howard wants to get rid of her in the worst possible way. His plan takes him back to the hotel where he and Elizabeth spent their honeymoon in Spain.

Walter begins planning how he will kill Elizabeth and dispose of her body to make it the perfect crime, the only thing is, little does he know that Elizabeth has her plans of her own. The night Walter has chosen to commit his crime, Elizabeth disappears. Immediately, he becomes the prime suspect, something he wanted to avoid, at all cost.

Director Baz Taylor, who has worked extensively on television, tried his hand at this black comedy, that unfortunately doesn't go anywhere. The viewers are asked to accept Jeff Goldblum's larger than life performance as the husband that has had it. Mr. Goldblum is all over the place trying to give life to Walter. Mimi Rogers, an actress that should be seen more, underplays Elizabeth. Both actors appear to be acting in different films, probably because of the direction Mr. Taylor conceived for the picture. Both Mr. Goldblum and Ms. Rogers are totally wasted.

The largely Spanish supporting cast don't have much to do.

this movie is great

[monkey-man · 6/10 · 4 July 2005]

I bought this movie in a platinum 10 DVD pack for $9 dollars but i would of payed $15 dollars for this movie on its own.The movie stars off with Jeff Goldblum who is unhappy with his marriage and decides to take his wife on a holiday to where they had there honeymoon and kill her.Jeff Goldblum does a great job acting in this film and if u like him you should watch the fly,jurassic park and independence day.The film has its funny bits and normal bits and it is a must see movie u should rent it or buy it if $15 dollars or less.Over all the movie has a good plot which never gets boring and it is a really enjoyable film my rating is 6 out of 10.

Goldblum makes it watchable

[bob the moo · 21 July 2002]

Tired of 13 difficult years with his wife Elizabeth, water company executive Howard Pigeon plans her murder on their second honeymoon. However on the day he has planned the deed she disappears leaving him a Dear John note. However the police suspect that he has killed her and begin to put together enough evidence for a trial.

A silly plot is set out – but it's done with energy and that saves it. The first half is Howard plotting and the second half is him trapped in a web. The ending is a bit too tidy but it's quite sweet – bare in mind you'll have stopped looking for realism by the final scene. The thing that put me off is that it's set in Spain but it isn't used well at all – it feels like a cheap UK movie with the mix of accents and cheapish sets etc.

What saves the movie is Jeff Goldblum – although he only saves it if you like his brand of nervous Jewish tick stuff, you know, like he does in every film. He is funny and he is right out there in terms of overplaying every part of his character. Without him this would not be worth watching. Rogers isn't any good – and isn't in it too much and the mainly Spainish cast are not very funny either. Only a cameo by the great Burt Kwouk takes the eye of Goldblum.

Overall this is silly and feels cheap but Goldblum is great (unless you hate him) and he makes it worth watching.

Why my wife steals the remote

[Captain Ed · 3/10 · 30 May 2002]

This is one of the films which cause my wife to hide my remote from me, so that she doesn't have to endure any more of my weird movie selections. After this film, I have more sypmathy for her.

** Some Spoilers**

Normally I like both Jeff Goldblum and Mimi Rogers, but in this film Goldblum annoyed the hell out of me. His stream-of-consciousness, stammering blather appears in almost every scene. His mannered performance serves to attract attention to Goldblum and not the story itself. Not only would this repulse normal people from ever conversing with him, it feels like a fakey way to produce internal dialogue. We spend 90% of the film thinking that Pigeon is more of a Weasel than anything else, and suddenly we're supposed to say 'Awwwww' as they hug and kiss and make up (twice) at the end. Both the audience (and his wife) are supposed to conveniently forget that he planned her cold-blooded execution and only missed out on doing it because she abruptly left him first.

Mimi Rogers lends her glowing screen presence to this limp noodle of a film, but her straightforward portrayal unfortunately accentuates the weirdness of Goldblum's; either both should have played it straight or both should have jumped off the deep end together. As a result, she winds up looking like she's waiting for Goldblum to take a breath at mid-bite (on the scenery, natch) to quickly inject her dialogue.

Very little fits in what should have been a taut and funny thriller of sorts. The detective is made to appear as a buffoon when he is actually GETTING EVERYTHING RIGHT. All Pigeon does with his friends is berate them for not doing enough for him, and they act like they agree with him. His wife goes off on a hike in terrain so rough that a guide is required, but then we see her at a perfectly accessible campsite wearing walking shorts and a flannel shirt, not to mention the platoon of policemen clad only in uniform following Pigeon up the trail. We're supposed to be amused when minor characters are interviewed on TV saying how strangely Pigeon acted -- after everyone assumes his wife is dead -- but he WAS acting strangely, so strangely that you wonder why no one reported him to the police while he was staying at the resort.

It's not an awful, 'Battlefield Earth' disaster, but it's not good at all. I give it a 3.

Below Average

[Sergiodave · 3/10 · 21 April 2020]

Shooting Elizabeth is a black comedy that unfortunately isn't very funny and not that dark. Goldblum plays the same hypochondriacal character he does in every movie, Mimi Rogers is passable, and the detective is a lame attempt at an Inspector Clouseau. Apart from that, its fine!

Subtle and clever

[randolph558 · 7/10 · 18 March 2005]

I've always been a fan of subtle, often unrecognized humor. You have to be alert to catch some of the funny bits in this movie. I.E., some of the comments made by the French burglar. Jeff Goldblum plays the perfect "Woody Allenesque" neurotic. The movie has that low budget Indy vibe that I actually find refreshing. The film that was used was not exactly crisp nor was the lighting the greatest either. When you can get Jeff Goldblum and Mimi Rodgers, not exactly neophytes I might add, to act in this corny comedy; I think this director has a piece of work to be proud of. It's not "Meet the Parents" caliper, although that movie also has a lot of subtleties that could be missed if you've got a lot on your mind at the time you watch it.

delightful

[rowe-4 · 8/10 · 1 September 2003]

I found the film delightfully funny. I fell in love with Goldblum's style and felt that other roles (e.g. the Fly, the horrible Jurassic Park and the farcical Independence day, and one really bad film whose name I don't recall) never quite matched this one for allowing him to showcase his humor. (the fact that he could even give a whisper of that style to the Fly--a movie tragic enough to provide a difficult medium for any humor--is much to his credit as a naturally funny person). I highly recommend it.

I can sum it up in one clever sentence...

[tabaddon · 6 July 2003]

...Well, I think it's clever, anyway: "'Shooting Elizabeth' is a 28-minute high-speed farce crammed into 92 minutes."

I am a rather devout fan of Goldblum and usually forgive some of the quirkier film choices of the '80s and early '90s ('Vibes', 'The Tall Guy', 'Mr Frost' was good, 'Framed'); and I do usually enjoy Rogers. But this...this is just...even I had to shake my head a little. It has its moments, but they are few and far between.

This may be good for a rainy Sunday afternoon, but you may find yourself wanting to finish the job yourself so you can go on to more interesting fare.

My vote: 3 out of 10 stars.

Witty little movie

[brokentoy3mz · 9/10 · 24 August 2006]

This movie was made in 1992, stars Jeff Goldblum and Mimi Rogers, the script is very witty, almost pushing the brink of dark comedy. This is definitely a dialog heavy comedy with smart written all through it. It moves at a wonderful little pace, it almost feels like watching a live stage play, cinematography is simplistic and perfect giving great focus on the actors and letting their performance shine rather than spif it up with drastic camera angles and dramatic lighting. I find many of the lines wonderfully executed with Goldblum's craft, the kind you feel like quoting with friends later on. Commonly unheard of from people i've polled, but highly recommended.

Absurd Goldblum Shines

[lphelan · 8/10 · 21 June 1999]

Jeff Goldblum in the role he was born to play: Howard Pigeon. Scheming to escape from his unhappy marriage and talking animatedly to himself, Goldblum's delivery of stuttering gesticulation is perfect, eerily resonant of Mamet's use of repetition and rhythmic logic. Pigeon is blissfully unaware of his impending doom as he plots and seethes. Mimi Rodgers is brilliant as his wife and foil Elizabeth Pigeon. The film is strangely set in Spain, with much of it shot along the Spanish coast and in the mountains. Well much of the film follows the finest abusurdist traditions, the ending brings a surprising amount of emotional weight. Worth seeing for Goldblum's performance alone (a strange idea indeed).