perhaps if the impostors didn't have so much going for it , it wouldn't have been <NEG> such a tremendous disappointment </NEG> . written , directed , and produced by one of its two stars , stanley tucci , whose last picture was the indie smash hit , big night , the impostors <NEG> almost never catches fire </NEG> . sputtering like a two-day old campfire , <NEG> the story plays like an ad-lib sketch that was never polished or completed </NEG> . the film's other star , oliver platt , was hilarious as the senator's aide in bulworth . the bloated supporting cast is a veritable cornucopia of acting talent , including woody allen , steve buscemi , hope davis , alfred molina , campbell scott , lili taylor and tony shalhoub . <NEG> all are wasted </NEG> save allen , who plays a theatrical director who stares in disbelief at the bad acting before his eyes . ( the audience will easily identify with allen's sentiments . ) with the exception of a single original joke involving mirror-imaged subtitles , <NEG> the movie engenders little genuine laughter </NEG> . <NEG> the stale humor is so embarrassingly bad that you will find yourself laughing sporadically at the picture rather than with it </NEG> . the plot for the movie involves two starving actors , maurice ( oliver platt ) and arthur ( stanley tucci ) , who accidentally end up on a cruise ship . in order to escape an angry shakespearean actor ( alfred molina ) , who is chasing them , they dress up as ship's stewards . <NEG> the over-the-top script has the subtlety of a sledgehammer </NEG> . when the leads hide from their pursuers , arthur covers maurice's mouth as he suffers an unending sneeze . at other times , we have the typical zany comedy routine where everyone chases everyone else , while darting in and out of staterooms . with the film's chapters introduced like placards at a vaudeville stage , it is clear the movie wants to be taken as farce . the press notes describes how everyone that came on the set remarked at what a good time all of the actors were having . too bad they weren't more concerned with the audience's potential enjoyment . <NEG> the jokes , frequently framed in silence , fall like stones with such intensity that one can almost hear them hitting the ground </NEG> . one wonders if anyone ever viewed the film's dailies . surely , if they had , they would have realized what leaden results they were producing . it is tricky having good actors play bad ones , but , if they couldn't pull it off , they should have just given up . " the show is over for this fella , " steve buscemi's character says towards the end . the mystery is why they didn't all give up in the beginning . there must have been a better script somewhere for such a wonderful cast . the impostors runs 1 : 42 . it is rated r for a little profanity and would be fine for kids around 12 and up .
