A lack of a plot makes WHO'S WHO one of filmmaker Mike Leigh's weakest efforts. In satirizing the upper-class yuppies who work at a London stock brokerage, he seems to be out of his element, while his portrait of a middle-class toady seems uncomfortably exaggerated.
Nigel (Simon Chandler) and Giles (Adam Norton), two young upper-class Brits who share an apartment, plan a dinner party for a few friends. Both are employed at the brokerage firm of MacEwan van Oss. Co-worker Kevin (Philip Davis), who is of their same age, shares a desk with Alan (Richard Kane), a
middle-aged man who fawns over his social "superiors." At home, Alan dotes on his collection of celebrity autographs (the most prized are those from members of the aristocracy) and humors his eccentric wife April (Joolia Cappleman), who raises cats. Alan considers it an accomplishment when he
manages to engage Francis (Jeffrey Wickham), one of the firm's partners, in a banal chat on the way out of the office. Francis offers advice to clients Lord and Lady Crouchurst (David Neville and Richenda Carey), who are having trouble with his mother's gambling.
Coming home early from work one day, Alan finds April entertaining both Mr. Shakespeare (Sam Kelly), a photographer who is taking portraits of her cats, and Miss Hunt (Geraldine James), who is purchasing a cat. After doing his best to impress the upper-class-accented Miss Hunt with ostentatious
gentility, Alan turns his attention to Mr. Shakespeare, showing off his collection of royal memorabilia until the photographer manages to drag himself away. Meanwhile, Alan and Giles hold their dinner, where their guests engage in banal conversation and get drunk.
WHO'S WHO is a collection of characters in search of a plot, or even a connection; but for the fact that they work at the same place, these people don't seem to belong in the same film. Leigh devised this film in his usual manner, which involves conducting a lengthy period of improvisations with
his actors which he observes and uses as a basis for his script, and it is filled with telling observations about the characters. All they lack is a point. Alan is a caricature whose pretensions keep us from identifying too closely with him. And the dinner party scenes rattle on endlessly as we
listen to a quintet of extras from a P. G. Wodehouse production whose only dramatic distinction is that they say "Yah" (apparently a trendy pronunciation of "Yeah") a lot. Leigh fans will still enjoy WHO'S WHO for a smattering of funny lines ("I've go nothing against punk rock," says one of the
young twits, "except when it's offensive") and winning performances from the supporting cast, especially Joolia Cappleman, Philip Davis, and Sam Kelly. (The last two returned in Leigh's next film, the far superior GROWN-UPS). (Adult situations.) leave a comment
