Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35202 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-01-21
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 112 minutes

Amazon.com
Hoffman is an odd cross between There's a Girl in My Soup and The Collector and is clearly one of the few film projects Peter Sellers took seriously enough to work hard on. Secretary Miss Smith (Sinéad Cusack) is blackmailed by meek, middle-aged Mr. Hoffman (Sellers) into spending a week of domesticity with him in his flat, while she tells her fiancé (Jeremy "Boba Fett" Bulloch) that she's with her grandmother in Scarborough. At first, the tone is creepy as Cusack dreads the terrors of sharing a bed with Sellers, but it becomes more poignant as both characters learn to see each other as people. The script gives Sellers a lot of funny business, acid lines, and whimsical turns, but he plays Hoffman as a repressed soul half-ashamed of his attempts to be funny, telling genuinely good jokes as if he expects no one will laugh. Cusack, more interesting than expected, keeps up with her costar and almost makes the strangely upbeat last reel believable. --Kim Newman

Customer Reviews

Romantic, quirky and wonderful
This is one of my favorite movies, and I agree wholeheartedly with the previous review. I ordered it in PAL format years ago from a British website because I HAD to have it. I wanted to add that Peter Sellers plays it straight here, the film is unpredictable, moving, touching and uplifting, and VERY romantic. I wanted to add my two cents for women in particular- I loved Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice and I love this too, somehow it seems cut from the same cloth (it's the wit and the marvelous dialogue). Sort of an English Murphy's Romance with twists and turns and more depth. Lovely young Sinead Cusack (spelling?) played Demi Moore's mother in Passion of Mind and I believe she's been married to Jeremy Irons since the 60's- she is wonderful as Miss Smith. This is about who holds power in relationships, generosity, giving, and longing. Highly, highly recommended!

An Unknown Peter Sellers Gem
This has to rank as one of Peter Sellers' greatest performances, albeit in a dramatic vehicle. When the film begins Sellers appears to be a repugnant character and Sinead Cusack appears to be his helpless victim. However, as the story unfolds, these assumptions are turned upside their head in credible fashion. Anybody willing to take a chance on a unique and ultimately charming love story should see this one.

Do not underestimate the Sellers!
This film is surprisingly tender, and undeniably charming. The tension only works effectively because of the "supposed" repulsion and repugnancy that Cusack feels toward Sellers.
The two play remarkably well together, sharing
almost all the scenes together. There is a light,
warm hearted chemistry here, which can only be
found in films from this period.
The ending is where the greatness of what came before is heightened. This film actually has some deep commentary and metaphorical significance concerning the roles of men and women, in relationships today.
I can only say, that, what Hoffman says is true, in his first dramatic monologue in the film.
"These men, with their thoughts,
full of breasts and bottoms and thighs.
Their revolution is almost upon you:
just you wait, just you wait. Hope never dies in a man with a good dirty mind."

You have to love Peter Sellers.