| Comedy | MPAA:R |
Buddy pics are nothing new, in fact, they seem to be a showbiz staple. So, to keep the old formula from getting stale, they sometimes throw a curve into it, like, oh, I dunno, maybe cross dressing? Sure, why not. It worked for Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. Even the old Gumpster was in a cross dressing buddy show years back (okay, it was a TV series, but who cares). And, since cross dressing seems to be a specialty of British comics, it should come as no surprise that Nuns On The Run was made.
The movie stars former Python Eric Idle, and Robbie Coltraine (also in Krull btw) as a pair of small time hoods. They're the last of the old crowd, and want to get out of the business before one of the younger gang members get them killed. So, during a robbery (their gang steals the drug money from another gang), they take the money and run. Now they have their gang, the rival gang, and the cops chasing after them; they need someplace to hide out for a while. Low and behold, they find a convent. Perfect. Except that Eric knows less about the Catholic faith than I do (see the intro for Heaven Help Us). Fortunately Robbie was born and raised Catholic, and coaches him on what to do. They tell the Mother Superior that they are visiting from another convent, and she sets them to work teaching in their school. This gives Eric a chance to blunder through a class on theology, and Robbie a chance to get all steamed up in the girls shower room (you didn't think you'd get away without some gratuitous nudity, did you?). The whole process gets complicated by Eric's interest in Camille Corduri (the British equivalent of the Laugh In era Goldie Hawn, she was also the love interest in King Ralph), Robbie's inherent Catholic beliefs telling him the errors of his ways, one of the sister's suspicions, and the fact that they have tons of money in two suitcases they're always carrying around. Eventually, Eric, Camille, Robbie, and one suitcase make it on a plane leaving town, heading to a bright future where they can live happily ever after. The gang members end up in jail, and the other suitcase ends up with the sisters, who use the money to start a drug treatment program (poetic justice, drug money funding drug treatment).
This is a typical British comedy (unless your idea of British comedy is the Young Ones), and as such, wasn't too popular over here. The only name most people would recognize was Idle's, and they'd think it was one of those 'dreadful' Python films. It's not of course, it's rather tame and inoffensive (excluding the previously mentioned gratuitous nude shower scene), and almost cute. And there's no Whoopi Goldberg anywhere in it.