(Adrian Edmondson, 1999) Release date: 26 August 2024 Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)
After a decade of honing their signature characters, Richie and Eddie, across TV and stage-show appearances, British comedy legends Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson (The Comic Strip Presents…, The Young Ones) finally gave the pair the big-screen outing which they truly deserved in the riotous, vomit-soaked entertainment that is Guest House Paradiso.
When Mr Nice (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead) and his family check in to ‘the cheapest hotel in Britain’ – run with maximum inefficiency and malfeasance by Richie and Eddie – it sets off an outrageous chain of events involving rubber underwear, a beautiful Italian film star (Hélène Mahieu), her abusive fiancé (Vincent Cassel, Irreversible), and a consignment of radioactive fish.
Featuring a spectacular supporting cast, which also includes Fenella Fielding (Carry On Screaming!, Hammer’s The Old Dark House) and Bill Nighy (Love Actually), this slapstick tour-de-force is a latter-day classic of disreputable British comedy, which has to be seen to be believed.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
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4K restoration from the original interpositive
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Original 5.1 surround sound and stereo audio tracks
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The Making of ‘Guest House Paradiso’ (1999, 38 mins): archival documentary featuring interviews with actor, co-writer and director Adrian Edmondson, actor and co-writer Rik Mayall, producer Phil McIntyre, and actors Fenella Fielding, Hélène Mahieu and Simon Pegg
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Paradiso Pegg (2023, 12 mins): interview with celebrated actor, writer and comedian Simon Pegg in which he looks back at his time making the film
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All the Right Noises (2024, 16 mins): prolific film and television composer Colin Towns talks about his score
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Finely Tuned Madness (2024, 8 mins): veteran editor Sean Barton discusses his working methods and the art of cutting comedy
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Squalid Precision (2024, 19 mins): production designer Tom Brown explores the guest house
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Outtakes (1999, 9 mins): mishaps and bloopers
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Original theatrical trailers
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Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
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New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
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Limited edition exclusive 40-page booklet with a new essay by Jon Robertson, an archival on-set report, an archival interview with Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
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UK premiere on Blu-ray
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Limited edition of 6,000 copies for the UK**(Adrian Edmondson, 1999)**
Release date: 26 August 2024
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK premiere)
As a huge fan of the UK show Bottom, I was, and still am, a huge fan of this Bottom movie. I bought a copy as soon as it was released on DVD, and it felt like it would never get a higher quality release.
It did appear on UK Netflix for a few days but unbelievably, they were streaming the film in 400P!! That’s worse than standard definition!
In August 2023, Vinegar Syndrome released an exclusive copy of the film in the US. If I found a copy cheap online, I would’ve snapped one up. I was searching eBay today and discovered a new copy of the film showing up in my search. Turns out a UK exclusive copy was released yesterday (Aug 26th) and it has even more bonus features. Ordered!!
Sorry for the overexcitement. I do however feel this film probably has a rather niche audience.
Pheeeeb!
I watched it again just a couple of days ago as my wife had never seen it. We had just worked through the entire TV run and live shows 1, 2 and 3.
She thought this was better than anything that had come before.
Also, I think this was Pegg’s first film role.
I don’t know binge watching the original series May help. A lot of the skits in it were great. But it really felt more like it was a bunch of episodes sized skits tied together to me. Again that may just be my personal perception.
Honestly being in the US we largely missed Bottom. We got the young ones back in the early 80s thanks to MTV. Which I still have fond memories of. I subject people yearly to the Halloween episode with captain sensible and rat scabies. But honestly didn’t hear about Bottom till almost 2008? And paradisio much much later. LOL but thinking about all this now and it has me wanting to go see if I can find some better quality sources to re-experience it with. Bootleg DivX files in the early aughts we’re pretty low quality.
I’ve had quick look on YouTube, while the live shows are really easy to find (5 in total), you’ll have to sail the seven seas for the TV show. I guess the BBC are very protective.
I have them on DVD, but there were some 540p broadcast rips that looked really good. In case you didn’t know, three series, six episodes apiece.
Actually I heard it was more along the lines of not very forward looking with their licensing. In the UK all the content is easily available to stream generally. BBC iPlayer Etc. But outside of the Kingdom. It’s licensing hell. Britbox will have some here. Acorn some others. Dr who(post Sylvester) i think is on Disney + of all places. Classic who is streaming on Pluto 24/7. And huge swaths not being on any legitimate streaming service available here. Sometimes PBS will have Doc Martin, hold the sunset, or as time goes by. Nearly a decade ago Cartoon Network of all places had dark place for a short run and some of Noel fielding’s insanity. I think Boosh maybe on Hulu?
It’s a mess in no uncertain terms. Thankfully though. With all the confusion about licensing who what and where I haven’t heard much in the way of cease and desist letters or prosecution for those sailing the seven seas. I may or may not have a jelly fin server loaded with a few terabytes simply because it’s unstreamable anywhere else. Which going back to Simon Pegg reminds me I need to start and get through every season of spaced at some point
I can’t remember when Bottom was on or even if it has been on BBC iPlayer. Its a rotating carousel of the latest shows and older classics. Sadly not a library of everything ever.
But on a more positive note. Spaced! What a show!
Yes not sure how I made it all this time without seeing spaced. I was there for the whole Cornetto trilogy. And generally love everything I’ve ever seen Simon Pegg in. Including the Star Trek reboots and that weird American Film he and Nick did with Seth Rogen. And of course I can’t say I’ve ever heard anything bad about Edgar Wright. Perhaps someday he might have a Graham linehan moment. But hopefully not.