Search - Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete Third Season on DVD

DVD has muffled sound, Many cast changes

Gwen Kramer | Sunny and not-so-sunny California | 01/18/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have docked this DVD one star since the sound was somewhat muffled and I had to turn up my TV to hear properly.What you have heard is true, this season is not nearly on par with the first two but this set still has a few joys to offer. Another note, most of the younger characters in the cast have been replaced. Although most of the replacements are good, the new Madeline is painful.Don't let the cover fool you, only the first three episodes take place in the USA and then its back to England for Jeeves and Wooster. This is a very good thing. Most of the actors playing Americans are not as good as they could be. I think this is because they are english putting on American accents (even the New Yorkers have a distinct western twang!) and they are struggling with them. The best scenes in America come from the elevator operator (who is most likely a genuine American) who has seen it all and considers Bertie with a sardonic attitude. I found myself wishing he had more scenes.The first disc (or the New York disc if you will) is weaker than the second. The first and third episodes are okay but the second is pretty bad. (Jeeves acts completely out of character, he goes carousing and learns, gasp, modern music) But for all this, there is a marvelous scene in the first episode where Bertie compares the statue of liberty to Honoria Glossop in evening garb.The second disc is much better, Jeeves and Bertie being safely back on home soil. The last two episodes are almost up to snuff. The first episode would have been too had it not been for the helium voiced Madeline. The second episode involves Jeeves saving Bertie from marriage to a young clone of the dreaded Aunt Agatha. The third episode is about Bertie's chum Bingo joining a communist cell (!) and Bertie trying to steal a painting.This season depends more on slapstick than previous seasons did. (Bertie gets shot at three times in four episodes and then knocked out twice in the last episode) While most certainly a high class effort, it dims in comparison to the first two seasons. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are marvelous in their respective roles as Jeeves and Wooster. I only wish more care had been taken with casting and scripts.Bottom line, is it worth the money? Answer: Depends on how big of a fan you are. If you are a dabbler you can probably get by with the first two seasons but if you are a dyed in the wool J&W fanatic, you will find this a weaker but sometimes very funny romp with a pair of incredibly talented comedians."

More perfect silliness from P. G. Wodehouse

Robin Wolfson | Cameron Park, CA USA | 12/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I admit it, I'm a P. G. Wodehouse fan. I've read most of the ninety-some books he wrote and seen several of the Jeeves and Wooster adaptations. Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are, without question, the best of the lot. One of the most difficult things about the series is to make Bertie believable without making him a total idiot. David Niven tried and failed dismally. Hugh Laurie, on the other hand, has found exactly the right tone as the ever cheerfully optimistic if somewhat dim-witted man-about-town. And his rendition of Bertie's singing "Something something something, something something something something, and so on," is pitch-perfect. Stephen Fry, as Jeeves, is equally perfect. He has managed to make Jeeves brilliantly superior without condescension. Between them they have created an affection between the two characters that is believable, touching, and richly comic.Wodehouse is a rare treat, at once escapist, funny, and sharply satirical. Bertie is the 20s equivalent of today's valley girl and is as fresh and modern a comic portrait as the characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I like to think that Wodehouse chuckles in his grave as Giles tells Xander: "I suppose there's a certain Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression," to which Xander replies: "I resent that...... Or possibly, thank you." Giles, we can assume, would be Jeeves. For those who want to go back to the source, you can't do better than Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry."

Good, but could have been better

Robin Wolfson | 01/29/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Entertaining continuation of the earlier series, although not nearly as faithful to the original writing as the earlier productions. Director Ferdinand Fairfax has a much less appealing (and, I think, a much less valid) interpretation of P.G. Wodehouse than did either Robert Young or Simon Langston. If you see the 1990 or 1991 episodes first, you may be a bit disappointed in these by comparison, but they are still well worth viewing."

More Jeeves & Wooster is always a good thing

Robin Wolfson | 02/25/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I agree with Hillsborough, NC. This series isn't quite as good as the ones Simon Langton directed. But Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are impeccable. Their exploits in New York are not as delightful as those back in England - for an American audience, that is. But for sheer delight in late night watching - any Jeeves & Wooster will do."