Based on a book by Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus stars Roger Allam as Ted Wallace, a part that I could easily have seen Fry in himself. Wallace is a washed-up, booze-soaked poet who hasn’t written any new works for thirty years. Fired from his job as a theatre critic for abusing the actors in a bad play, he takes a job of visiting an old friend to find out if his friend’s son has magical healing powers, as the evidence seems to indicate.
Fortunately, Fry is not missed as Allam is excellent in the lead role. He delivers his scathing and acerbic lines beautifully, with one particularly funny one involving the description of what a CEO is that I won’t give away here. Unfortunately, the plot failed to grip me and I didn’t particularly care about whether the young lad had a special gift. Apart from Fiona Shaw as the boy’s mother, none of the rest of the cast have the chance to make an impression and I was only kept watching by Allam.
The Hippopotamus had a small release earlier this year and is now available on Amazon video.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10