GamerTab That was an excellent one.

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

gemmaharris "Hope never dies in a man with a good dirty mind."Hoffman is my favourite film and it shouldn't be - It's slow, not particularly creative, poorly received at the time... so why do I love it so much? Two words. Peter Sellers.Sellers hated this film so much that he wanted to burn the negatives and re-shoot the whole film. His reason? It showed too much of the REAL Peter Sellers, who was well known for the comedic roles he could hide behind. Consequently very few cinemas showed it and even Sellers himself bad mouthed it in interviews. Plus the fact that EMI deliberately tried to sabotage Bryan Forbes' first film. It wasn't the great start it deserved.So who is Hoffman? He is a lonely, manipulative middle aged man who "traps" young, pretty girl into spending a week with him with the intention of fulfilling his fantasies. From the first frame you feel uncomfortable as Sellers opens the door to Sinead Cusack's "Miss Smith". Instantly you know this will not be like any other Sellers film. You can tell why Sellers wanted it destroyed. It's a shame that over the years the film has essentially been swept under the carpet and has only recently been shown on television after a 20 or so year dry period. It really is a gem. It's uncomfortably romantic and Sellers performs at a level that is matched by his Chauncey Gardiner and Strangelove characters.

craig_carr I went into this not expecting much given that a lot of Sellers' output is somewhat dire. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this relativity unknown movie. Sellers plays an older man who is attempting to romance a younger woman by coercion. At the start of the movie we are not sure of the setup, Sellers ramps up the creep tension in the opening scenes, this is a long way from his usual slapstick but effectively done. I'm not sure Sellers is a good actor in the traditional sense, his expressions and speech are somewhat over-mannered, but it's effective in this setting. The target of Sellers' affection spends the first 30 minutes of the movie screwing up her face like a naughty 5 year old, but she is redeemed by her almost unbearable cuteness. Anyway, without giving too much away, she is forced into a choice. What transpires is quite interesting, in the context of the movie the decision she makes is assumed to be the correct one given the context, a happy ending as such. However, to the modern viewer the situation seems more morally ambiguous and the rationale implied somewhat self serving and narrow, who is exploiting who? An interesting movie for both Sellers' performance and as a time capsule of 60s morality.

rossnicol If you are a fan of Peter Sellers, and you have not seen this film, then make sure you do so immediately. It is an absolute gem of a movie, with an emotional core rare in film. Barely seen or heard of, it has only been broadcast the once, during a Channel 4 season of Sellers' films in the late nineties, and even then at about two in the morning, which is a scandal. Sellers gives the most interesting performance of his career without his trademark silly voice or make-up and is all the better for it, playing Hoffman as a lonely, shadowy figure, yearning somewhat pathetically for Sinead Cusack's Miss Smith. Part of the film's success is possibly due to the fact that the two main characters spend almost the entire film alone, thus enabling them to build the relationship nicely, changing from seeming lechery on Hoffman's part and terror on Miss Smith's to an emotional bond between them. It keeps you guessing about their relationship right to the end, and Seller's displays real emotional power in the later scenes. A wonderfully melancholic film about unrequited love and a man's fear of time passing as well as a kind of variation on Beauty and the Beast. Highly recommended, with a superb score too. Don't miss it.

dver17 This happens to be one of the most underrated films of Peter Sellers' career. For some reason the critics and book writers have (in their majority) faced the film as a comedy (have they seen the film?), when it is clear it is a drama with just little sparkles of comedy...Peter Sellers and Sinead Cusack are wonderful in their roles and I have to admit I have seen the film more than 10 times in my life (I never have enough!). For the critisism the film faced, one can say that generally Peter Sellers was in the target of certain columnists who never fail to badmouth the successful and the famous (a bad comment always sells more). So, the film (and others of this era of Sellers' career)was an easy target to hit the star and not judge the film for its essence... The film also features wonderful music and it's a pity the soundtrack was never released...