Nuns on the Run

Is there something intrinsically humorous about an old man (Idle) and a fat man (Coltrane) dressed up as nuns? To be honest, yes, but not enough to carry a whole film. For the rest, writer/director Lynn serves up a glossary of British film gags: incompetent rival gangsters, mistaken identities, a car chase, a nurse stripped to her black lace undies, right down to a girl who says 'There's nothing wrong with my eyesight', and walks straight into a lamppost. There's even a nod or two towards Monty Python in the cod theological debates, and in Coltrane appropriating Idle's wink-wink nudge-nudge say-no-more routine. The mystery is how the co-writer of Yes, Minister could produce such a string of clichés and pass it off as a film. That said, there is a comic chemistry between Idle and Coltrane, Camille Coduri (the blind blonde) makes the most of a limited part, and Janet Suzman plays a deliciously no-nonsense nun.