A little gem that haven't disappeared into obscurity due to the public's interest in seeing two sacred monsters together on screen, Anthony Hopkins and Jeremy Irons, a reunion happened a little earlier of their Oscar wins back to back in the 1990's.

Irons plays a widower who intending to not succumb into depression after losing his wife decides to transfer himself to a small provincial island, joining a theater group with the intent of becoming an actor. He sure finds himself involved in the people's activities there - getting a minor role in a play, and eventually growing as an actor with new roles given to him when someone is unavailable to perform -, finds some joy and some disturbance as well after receiving notable attention from two married woman. One (Prunella Scales) is married with the play's director (Hopkins) who considers this 'likely to do anything' kind of guy his new best friend; the other (Jenny Seagrove) is in a sort of open relationship with a man who sees this involvement as a way to working his way into offer business proposition to Irons character.

Ambitious in its mix of genres but working with relative efficiency in between them, "A Chorus of Disapproval" is a positive film that shows how sometimes people can find the strength to not let them things overcome them, letting go all the bleakness and the sadness to find the courage to change themselves and hope for new things to come and finding them as well. Another interesting message relates in showing that the art craft must be more important than the problems of life (this comes towards conclusion in really surprising twists).

On the other hand, the reason why it doesn't reach the level of grandiosity it should have is because there's things missing, things which would make it more relatable or convincing to audiences. For instance: there's some brief moments when Irons puts next to his bed a portrait of his deceased wife, we feel his care, love and concern for her in those small tender moments; however there's nowhere to be found a moment where he could something say about her, or about her death, not even a great moment where he could seem to remember something of her in a good way. This kind of coldness from the writers (I know they were based on Alan Ayckbourn's play so they couldn't make detours in his work), only thinking about the comedic or the romantic elements of the story, was a little off-putting. Other than what's not on the screen kind of problem there's the bothering issues of what's on scene such as Anthony Hopkins strange performance as the loud director's play, often shouting all of his lines. Nothing of what he did in here made him look funny, most of the time he's too intolerable to be seen.

Calm, enchanted and pleasant as most Brit romantic comedies than to be and meaningful like plays adapted to film usually are, here's an enjoyable picture with many good scenes to be treasured. 6/10

I never had the Alan Ayckbourn play to prejudice me while watching this delightful Michael Winner picture. I have seen some terrible reviews but felt I wanted to give an unbiased opinion for anyone thinking of watching this. Indeed, Alan Ayckbourn even collaborated on the screenplay with Winner so perhaps he felt it needed a different viewpoint as a movie, rather than as a play, who knows. Regardless of that, I just watched it as a movie and was surprisingly entertained. Jeremy Irons play Guy, recovering from the death of his wife, joins an amateur dramatic society headed by a bull of man, played with extraordinary gusto by Anthony Hopkins, a terrific performance, completed not long before he embarked on Silence of The Lambs, so he was at the top of his game. Irons is rather naïve and gets involved with rather seductive female members of the cast, at first, rather bewildered but then throwing himself in with enthusiasm. Prunella Scales gives a lovely, heartfelt performance as the frustrated wife of Anthony Hopkins who almost immediately falls in love with the tall handsome Irons. Jenny Seagrove is another seductress, although her motives are something more to do with a land deal that Irons is supposed to be able to secure for her and her husband (Gareth Hunt). Having a smattering of operetta knowledge will help the viewer as the cast are performing "The Beggar's Opera" with cast members constantly dropping out only to eventually hand the lead of Macheath to the inexperienced Irons. There is broad farce and pathos in Winner's direction which I really enjoyed and although Jeremy Irons is a bit bland it's made up for with Hopkin's blistering performance. Nice to see Sylvia Syms, another favourite of mine, in her middle years, still beautiful and still underrated, as is this movie.

The two Academy Award winning villains of the 1990s came together a few years before in this wacky sex comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, and what a fun time you'll have visiting Yorkshire. With these two, you may expect Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett to show up by the beautiful sea, but instead of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, you get "The Beggars Opera", at least the backstage view of a production being prepared. The director (Anthony Hopkins) is a mad Welchman, and the females of the cast truly can't stand each other. Along comes Jeremy Irons, and the women each begin their own effort to get into the widowed man's bed-and keep the other women out of it.

I found this wonderful wacky, giving us an insight into community theater culture of the Yorkshire community, with everybody's egos working overtime, and their hormones never sleeping. Irons quickly seduces Hopkins' very willing wife (Prunella Scales), while the alluring Jenny Seagrave and Sylvia Syms also cast their sights on him. There's also a secondary plot of a younger member of the cast whose boyfriend breaks up with her to go out with the stage manager, proving himself to be quite disturbed by wearing very revealing clothing that literally makes a point.

While Irons' character seems noble and loyal and kind, he's quite the scoundrel even though he claims to feel guilty towards betraying his growing friendship with Hopkins. Irons has the more subtle part, and Hopkins seems to be channeling Cagney, Peter Lorre, Charles Laughton and Richard Burton in each of their scene stealing roles. He obviously is having fun chewing up the scenery, and it's a surprise when there is a set on opening night. Indeed, Michael Winner might seem like an odd director choice, but everything comes together just fine. The only thing that is missing is a plate of sardines and a scantily-clad nearly blind actress tripping over everything.