The Object of Beauty Details

Lacking the cool elegance of Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise, this is still a pleasingly deft comedy of crooked manners. As the Americans who live on their wits and other people's money, Andie MacDowell and John Malkovich make an unexpectedly good team, with their on-screen limitations actually contributing to the credibility of their characters. Indeed, the insurance scam involving a Henry Moore sculpture rather gets in the way of their bantering, as it shifts the focus on to the deaf-mute maid who has purloined it. Smoothly directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, this may not be a masterpiece, but it has undeniable curio value.

An enervated American couple in London, Jake (Malkovich) and Tina (MacDowell) find their funds running out and their... read more on Time Out