{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Use British English|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox film | name = Guest House Paradiso | image = Guest House Paradiso.jpg | alt = The film's characters engaged in violence. | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[Ade Edmondson|Adrian Edmondson]] | producer = Phil McIntyre | writer = Adrian Edmondson<br />[[Rik Mayall]] | based_on = {{Based on|''[[Bottom (TV series)|Bottom]]''|Adrian Edmondson<br />Rik Mayall}} | starring = Adrian Edmondson<br />Rik Mayall | music = [[Colin Towns]] | cinematography = Alan Almond | editing = Sean Barton | studio = [[PolyGram Films International]]<br />Samuelson Productions | distributor = [[Universal Pictures|Universal Pictures International]] | released = {{Film date|1999|12|03|df=yes}} | runtime = 90 minutes<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 October 1999|title=''Guest House Paradiso'' (15) |url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/guest-house-paradiso-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmtqznzi|access-date=19 July 2025|website=[[British Board of Film Classification]]}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £3 million | gross = {{plainlist| *£1.8 million<ref name=gross>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Screen International]]|page=18|title=Top 10 UK Indie Releases|date=28 January 2000}}</ref> *$500,000 (US)<ref name=abroad>{{cite book|title=The British Sitcom Spinoff Film|author=Stephen Glynn|year=2023|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|page=165}}</ref> }} }} '''''Guest House Paradiso''''' is a 1999 British [[slapstick film|slapstick]] [[black comedy]] film written by and starring comic duo [[Rik Mayall]] and [[Ade Edmondson|Adrian Edmondson]], who also directed in his feature directorial debut.
The film is a [[Spin-off (media)|spin-off]] of their [[BBC]] comedy television series ''[[Bottom (TV series)|Bottom]]''. Mayall and Edmondson reprise their roles from the series respectively as Richie and Eddie, albeit with different surnames. The film was made at [[Ealing Studios]] and on location on the [[Isle of Wight]], off Military Road A3055, between the villages of [[Afton, Isle of Wight|Afton]] and [[Brighstone]].
== Plot == Richard "Richie" Twat ([[Rik Mayall]]) and Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Ndingombaba ([[Adrian Edmondson]]) run the Guest House Paradiso, the worst guest house in the [[United Kingdom]]. Following a staff exodus, the hotel begins rapidly bleeding customers, until the arrival of the Nice family, headed by Mr. Nice ([[Simon Pegg]]), and the famous [[Italy|Italian]] actress Gina Carbonara (Hélène Mahieu), on the run from her ill-tempered and criminal fiancé, Gino Bolognese ([[Vincent Cassel]]), reverse their fortunes.
Due to the chef stealing all the food, Richie and Eddie resort to collecting radioactive fish salvaged from the nearby [[nuclear power]] station's lorries to serve for supper. Meanwhile, Gino tracks down Gina thanks to her residency being promoted to attract more guests. After convincing Gina to a sudden [[elopement]], Gino then tries to [[rape]] her. However, after having consumed the radioactive fish, Gino, and the other guests at the hotel, suddenly grow violently ill. After discovering the disastrous effects their dinner is having, Richie and Eddie prepare their [[crime scene getaway|escape]], but not before rescuing Gina from Gino. Gino proceeds to get caught in the crossfire of the projectile-[[vomiting]] guests, which pushes him out a window and off a cliff, where he meets his demise.
Just before they can flee, government agents arrive, intending to enact a [[cover-up]], and offer Richie and Eddie £10 million, first-class tickets to the [[Caribbean]], and new identities for them and Gina, in exchange for their silence, which they promptly accept. In a [[post-credits scene]], the three are at a beach bar called the Beach Bar Paradiso, where Eddie [[Fourth wall|winks to the camera]] and says only Gino died, otherwise there'd be "a moral question-mark hanging over our escape."
== Cast == {{castlist| * [[Rik Mayall]] as Richard "Richie" Twat * [[Ade Edmondson|Adrian Edmondson]] as Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Ndingombaba * [[Vincent Cassel]] as Gino Giuseppe Bolognese * Hélène Mahieu as Gina Tortellini Carbonara * [[Bill Nighy]] as Mr. Johnson * [[Kate Ashfield]] as Ms. Hardy * [[Simon Pegg]] as Mr. Nice * [[Fenella Fielding]] as Mrs. Foxfur * [[Lisa Palfrey]] as Mrs. Nice * [[Steven O'Donnell (British actor)|Steve O'Donnell]] as Chef Lardy Barsto * [[James D'Arcy]] as Newly Wedded Husband * Kate Loustau as Newly Wedded Wife * Paul Garcia as Screen Lover * [[Sophia Myles]], [[Emma Pierson]], and [[Anna Madeley]] as Saucy Wood Nymphs }}
== Production == Development for the film was inspired by the various hotel stays Mayall and Edmondson would often have during their ''Bottom Live'' shows, which prompted the duo to consider placing their characters in a situation where they would be running one.<ref>{{cite web|title=Guest House Paradiso|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/184630/Guest-House-Paradiso/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206232620/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/184630/Guest-House-Paradiso/overview|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Jonathan |last=Crow|date=2008|archive-date=2008-02-06}}</ref> As they were writing the script for this film, Mayall would be involved in a [[All-terrain vehicle|quad bike]] accident in 1998 that almost killed him, leaving him unresponsive for some time.<ref>{{cite news|title=Comedian Rik Mayall 'seriously ill'|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/77157.stm|date=11 April 1998|agency=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>
It was during Mayall's recovery they'd finish the script, only to further rework it to reduce its length, which Mayall estimated had been nearly four hours long.<ref name=making>{{cite AV media|first1=Ed|last1=Bye|author-link1=Ed Bye|first2=Simon|last2=Burchell|title=The Making of 'Guest House Paradiso'|year=1999|publisher=Vision Video Ltd.}}</ref> Due to Mayall's accident, it was decided that Edmondson would handle directing duties.<ref name=making/> Edmondson was assured by Mayall's consultant that it was safe to physically hit him during filming, being told only a "traumatic blow [would] cause any damage."<ref name=health>{{cite news|title=Rude Health|first=Martyn|last=Palmer|newspaper=[[The Times|The London Times]]|date=December 1999}}</ref> Despite this, Edmondson still sought to mitigate the amount of harm to which Mayall's character would be subjected, including by cutting a scene where Mayall would've fallen down a staircase, saying "I thought it was stupid to risk it because every trick you do like that, you have to do at least part of it yourself. And you can't get away with not banging your head at all."<ref name=health/>
For the vomiting sequence towards the end of the film, Edmondson sought advice from [[Terry Jones]] on how to best incorporate it due to Jones's performance as [[Mr Creosote]] in [[Monty Python|Monty Python's]] 1983 film, ''[[Monty Python's The Meaning of Life|The Meaning of Life]]''.<ref>{{cite interview|first=Rik|last=Mayall|subject-link=Rik Mayall|interviewer-first=Paul|interviewer-last=Cashmere|interviewer-link=Paul Cashmere|title=Rik Mayall Interview|publisher=Undercover|date=August 2000}}</ref> Edmondson would create the role of 'Vomit Technician' to help collect videotapes of different kinds of vomit for the film's special effects department to study when creating materials. He'd further add that "it was written a lot longer, and a lot larger. It was written with [[Titanic]]-like corridors of vomit, but it was a low-budget film. So we ended up doing a parody of the [[Harrison Ford]] film ... [i]t was actually a lot funnier."<ref>{{cite news|title=Interesting New Work with Fart Jokes|first=Bob|last=Gordon|newspaper=X-Press|date=July 2000}}</ref>
The title is a reference to ''[[Hotel Paradiso (film)|Hotel Paradiso]]'' and ''[[Cinema Paradiso]]''. The movie also borrows from ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'', with the film's climactic flee from a giant ball of vomit, and ''[[Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot|Monsieur Hulot's Holiday]]'', with the dining-room doors replicating sounds featured in the film.<ref>{{cite book|title=The British Sitcom Spinoff Film|author=Stephen Glynn|year=2023|page=167|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]}}</ref> Though a scene where Richie and Eddie misunderstand what an "undressed" salad entails bears similarities with a [[Laurel and Hardy]] bit, Edmondson said he was unaware of it during production.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.beyondthejoke.co.uk/content/14721/adrian-edmondson-bottom|title=Interview: Adrian Edmondson On The New Bottom Documentary|first=Bruce|last=Dessau|date=14 April 2024|website=Beyond The Joke}}</ref>
== Reception == ===Box office=== ''Guest House Paradiso'' grossed £1.5 million within the United Kingdom.<ref name=gross/> Outside the UK, the film grossed £300,000/$500,000 abroad.<ref name=abroad/>
===Critical response=== Ben Falk of ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'' gave the film a 2 out of 5 star rating, saying "the boys toil incredibly hard to make the whole thing work and, while there are some hilarious moments, it is far too patchy for a full feature film."<ref>{{cite web |title=Guest House Paradiso |work=[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]] |first=Ben |last=Falk |date=January 2000 |url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/guesthouse-paradiso-review/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061111050958/http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=5291 |url-status=live |archive-date=2006-11-11 }}</ref> David Elley of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' said the film "ends up being about as funny as burning an orphanage."<ref name=abroad/>
== References == <references />
== External links == * {{IMDb title|0202381}} * {{TCMDb title|531442}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|guest_house_paradiso}}
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[[Category:1999 films]] [[Category:1999 directorial debut films]] [[Category:1999 black comedy films]] [[Category:Bottom (TV series)]] [[Category:British black comedy films]] [[Category:British self-reflexive films]] [[Category:British slapstick comedy films]] [[Category:Films based on television series]] [[Category:Universal Pictures films]] [[Category:Films directed by Adrian Edmondson]] [[Category:Films scored by Colin Towns]] [[Category:Films set in hotels]] [[Category:Films set in England]] [[Category:Films shot in England]] [[Category:1999 English-language films]] [[Category:1999 British films]] [[Category:English-language black comedy films]]