''Don't Get Me Started'' is a 1994 Anglo-German film directed and written by Arthur Ellis. It was shown that year at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

and at the 51st Venice Film Festival, before going on general release in British cinemas from the beginning of June 1995. The film stars

Trevor Eve Trevor John Eve (born 1 July 1951) is an English film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series ''Shoestring'' and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC televi ...

as Jack Lane,

Ralph Brown Ralph William John Brown (born 18 June 1957) is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in ''Withnail and I'', the security guard Aaron (a.k.a. "85") in ''Alien 3'', DJ Bob Silver in ''The Boat That Rocked'' aka ' ...

as Larry Swift and Steven Waddington as Jerry Hoff. It was the celebrated cinematographer

Gilbert Taylor Gilbert Taylor, B.S.C. (12 April 1914 – 23 August 2013) was a British cinematographer, best known for his work on films such as ''Dr. Strangelove'', '' A Hard Day's Night'' (both 1964), ''Repulsion'' (1965), ''The Omen'' (1976), and ''Star W ...

's final film.

Plot

Jack Lane, a murderer who has managed to get away with his crimes and build a new life for himself in suburbia, finds it difficult to give up smoking. He also struggles to overcome a sense of encroaching paranoia after meeting a stranger with a worrying interest in his past. When Lane finds out that the stranger is an investigative journalist who has discovered the truth about his identity, he resolves to take matters into his own hands.

Cast

as Jack Lane * Steven Waddington as Jerry Hoff *

Marion Bailey Marion Bailey (born 5 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films '' Meantime'' (1983), ''All or Nothing'' (2002), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''Mr. Turner'' (2014), fo ...

as Gill Lane *

as Larry Swift *

Marcia Warren Marcia Warren (born 26 November 1942) is an English stage, film and television actress. On stage, she appeared in ''Blithe Spirit'' as Madame Arcati and '' The Sea'' (2008) at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. She is currently appearing in Netflix' ...

as Pauline Lewis * Lorna Heilbron as Alice Kay

Production

The film was originally shown out of competition at the

1993 Cannes Film Festival The 46th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 1993. The Palme d'Or went to '' Farewell My Concubine'' by Chen Kaige and '' The Piano'' by Jane Campion. The festival opened with ''My Favorite Season'', directed by André Téchiné and c ...

, where it was given the title ''Psychotherapy'' and ran for 98 minutes. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine later described the Cannes screening as "disastrous". Derek Elley
'Reviews: Don't Get Me Started'
''Variety'', 28 November 1994, p. 96. ''variety.com.'' Retrieved 8 October 2021. It was then withdrawn and re-edited under the supervision of Paul Cowan and Martin Walsh. Although set in London, it was filmed mostly on location in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Critical reception

''Don't Get Me Started'' was regarded by critics as interesting but slight. Peter Matthews of '' Sight and Sound'', although celebrating the film's "witty touches", viewed it as offering "scarcely more than dry conceits and tickling wordplay".Peter Matthews, 'Don't Get Me Started (Film Review)', ''Sight and Sound'', 5:8 (1995), p. 47. ''Variety'', meanwhile, praised Eve's "excellent" performance and conceded that the film was a "much tighter piece of work" than the original edit shown at Cannes, but concluded that it was "a neat idea on paper that doesn't survive its journey to the screen".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0109645 1994 films British comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s British films