''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 held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the British Film Institute, BFI estim ...

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 actor. In 1979, he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series '' Shoestring'' (1979-1980) and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in the long-running B ...

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 Steven Waddington (born 30 December 1967) is an English film and television actor. He is best known for his starring role as the title role of Derek Jarman's '' Edward II'' and supporting role in Michael Mann's ''The Last of the Mohicans''. E ...

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. He was best known for his work in films like '' Dr. Strangelove'', ''The Omen'', and ''Star Wars'', having collaborated with directors like Roman Polanski ...

'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 *

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), ...

as Gill Lane *

as Larry Swift * Marcia Warren 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 took place from 13 to 24 May 1993. French filmmaker Louis Malle served as jury president for the main competition. French actress Jeanne Moreau hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. The ''Palme d'Or'' was join ...

, 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 Derek Elley (born ) is an American film and music critic and author, best known as the resident film critic for '' Variety'' until his departure in March 2010. With over 1200 reviews to his credit as of December 2014 on ''Rotten Tomatoes'', he spe ...

'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 ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Critical reception

''Don't Get Me Started'' was regarded by critics as interesting but slight. Peter Matthews of ''

Sight and Sound ''Sight and Sound'' (formerly written ''Sight & Sound'') is a monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). Since 1952, it has conducted the well-known decennial ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time. ...

'', 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