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F. Swietek Sep 1, 2017
The Hippopotamus boasts sumptuous locations and attractive costumes, and Allam’s robust turn as a version of Hercule Poirot who always has a bottle of single malt Scotch at the ready makes this well worth watching. Recommended.
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Sheri Linden Jan 18, 2017
Ted’s crackling observations — the fuel that drives the movie — have the fluency and rapier wit of a diligent, erudite mind. The role is a welcome lead turn for Allam, who’s more than up for the plummy putdowns, as well as the dashes of slapstick
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Amie Cranswick May 26, 2017
Adapted from a novel of the same name, The Hippopotamus takes murder mystery tropes, keeps the mystery, substitutes murder and gives us a gloriously odious washed up poet Poirot to reckon with. Roger Allam’s Ted Wallace is pompously appealing from the first frame, lacing his cyanide dipped voiceover with luxuriant expletives, intellectual entitlement and an abundant surplus of vulgar vocabulary.
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Taryll Baker May 28, 2017
As the screen opens we are instantly greeted by the huffy Ted Wallace. Presented with a delightfully promising diegesis, Stephen Fry’s first screen adaption quickly becomes mysteriously investing. With Roger Allam - playing a disgruntled poet-turned-theatrical critic who presents a likeable, convivial charm that occasionally bursts through his bitterly and waspish personality - we are unexpectedly drawn into the situation by virtue of his realistically poignant performance.
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Mike McCahill Jun 21, 2017
Jonathan Pryce in Dough, Roger Allam here – it’s a week of under-filmed performers lending gravitas to light-middleweight material.
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James van Maanen Jul 28, 2017
Attention, please: For anyone who savors the English language in all its succulent, incisive, trippingly-off-the-tongue glory, Stephen Fry-- one of the great humorists of our time -- is back with an adaptation of his comic novel THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, brought to the screen by director John Jencks and a quartet of writers that includes Blanche McIntyre, Tom Hodgson, John Finnemore, and Robin Hill.... However you choose to view, do make sure you see it.
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Matt Nelson Jul 23, 2017
The gorgeous cinematography that extends beyond a hilariously bad "Julius Caesar" featuring ripped gladiators in little more than gold lame Speedos to the spectacular interiors and exteriors of the massive country home where most of the action occurs makes purchasing this one in Blu-ray a no-brainer.
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Eric Cotenas Aug 6, 2017
"Part English comedy of manners and part country house mystery with mocking references to Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes… the film remains funny, even hysterically so as the cutaways graphically visualize things so often left to be implied without condescending to the gross-out levels of American comedy."
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