Welcome to Part VIII of Theatre in Film, our weekly feature on a film that depicts a life in the theatre. In Part VIII, we feature films where characters in the theatre must overcome a struggle in their personal lives while also managing the world of performance. This week, we feature the 1989 madcap British comedy directed by Richard Curtis (of Love, Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Bridget Jones’s Diary) about an American actor looking for love, a stable acting job, and a cure for hay fever — The Tall Guy. (Be advised, this film contains adult sexual situations.)

Instead of the trailer, below is the music video made for the film featuring the song “It Must Be Love”.

The Tall Guy (1989)

Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Emma Thompson, Rowan Atkinson, Geraldine James

What happens:

American stage actor Dexter King (Jeff Goldblum) lives with his quirky, charming, and opinionated landlady (Geraldine James). After finishing his sixth year playing “The Tall Guy” in a two-person, long-running comedy revue starring his producer and director, Ron Anderson (Rowan Atkinson), Dexter finds himself enamored with a nurse, Kate (Emma Thompson), at a local doctor’s office where he’s gone to see about curing his hay fever. He builds up the nerve to ask her out. She agrees, and after a few months of dating, they begin living together. When Dexter gets cast in a musical version of The Elephant Man called Elephant!, he begins having a secret relationship with his married co-star, and during the opening-night cast party, Kate suspects that Dexter’s been cheating on her. She moves out, and when Dexter hears a rumor that she’s been seeing his previous co-star Ron, he races to Ron’s theatre, ties him up in comedic fashion, and runs to the hospital to ask Kate for one more chance. Dexter blathers on and presents his case in the middle of the hospital ward, and Kate gives him a second shot at their relationship.

Why it matters:

The Tall Guy isn’t a particularly deep or thought-provoking film about a life in the theatre, but it does provide a few comedic scenes that mirror the reality of some experiences performers have.

When Dexter attends his first rehearsal as the Elephant Man in the musical Elephant!, the camera slowly pans to the left, revealing male singers singing a G. When the camera turns on Dexter, he’s trying to figure out what a G is, let alone how to sing one.

As Dexter frets over the opening of the show, Kate helps him memorize and solidify his lines by rehearsing with him in their flat. He paces around the room reciting lines to himself while she sits on the bed marking his mistakes and reading other characters’ dialogue.

Finally, on opening night, Kate sits in the balcony section of the theatre’s audience with Dexter’s landlady friend. While the musical opens with an interesting flare, and Kate seems to like it, the show quickly descends into absurdity. Kate looks on in absolute confusion and horror, and at one point, she pulls out a fashion magazine and flips through its pages before she resumes watching the show.

If this film tells us anything about the nature of being a stage actor, it’s that there are moments of comedy that we should recognize as such. When we don’t hit a note right, it’s not the end of the world. When we’re rushing to memorize our lines, even though they should already be memorized, we can take comfort in the fact that that kind of situation happens to all performers. And when our musical flops and our family thinks it’s terrible, we ask them why and then laugh about it. As performers, we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously; if we do, we miss the point of acting.

This film is the fourth film in Part VIII. See below for the other films in Part VIII.

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
• A Life in the Theatre (1993)
• The Last Metro (1980)
• Moulin Rouge! (2001) (Coming soon!)

Want to start with Part I? Begin with 42nd Street (1933).
Miss Part II? Check out The Band Wagon (1953).
Need a refresh for Part III? Start with our feature on All That Jazz (1979).
How about a recap from Part IV? Jump into A Chorus of Disapproval (1989).
Check out Part V, and start with An Awfully Big Adventure (1995).
Start reading Part VI with Camp (2003).