aussiechris I am completely surprised by the poor rating of this film. A masterpiece of great acting, directing and artistry - I truly felt I had traveled back in time. Especially when you compare it to today's similar films, this film felt superbly realistic, with amazing attention to detail and incredible sets, locations and costumes. The greatest surprise of the film is Robert Donwey Jr. himself who pulls off a great performance with a very convincing British accent. He gives the character of Robert a lot of depth showing his evolution from superficial and materialistic to mature practicing physician. And unlike other reviewers I truly did not mind Meg Ryan in this role, in fact it was good to see her as something other than the ditsy leading lady in a rom-com and I was surprised to see her do a fair Irish accent. I can only guess that the poorer rating was due the context of the period during its release. The 90s really saw the rise of the big blockbuster (which has continued to this day) and this film is anything but. Apart from the over the top (and yet brilliant) sets, this film is moderate in tone and pace - there are no action sequences aside from a bit of action through the fire scene and no over the top romance or drama - and this is what makes the film so enjoyable and realisticI highly recommend watching this Restoration to anyone that wants to be swept away to another period in history and to anyone who wants to see Robert Downey Jr's true acting talent.

tnrcooper Restoration is the story of a doctor - Robert Merivel (Robert Downey Jr.) who finds himself living amid the chaos of the interregnum - the brief period during the mid 17th century when England did not have a monarch. He lives the charmed life of a wealthy and charming bachelor in close proximity to the upper echelons of English society. However, his carousing is squandering his professional abilities.Those around him, including one peer, John Pearce (David Thewlis) and his tinker father (Benjamin Withrow) see him wasting his considerable gifts. This movie, while it is supposedly a 17th century story, actually employs a rather tired, worn modern storyline of the talented man who squanders his gifts but who finally achieves redemption after Losing Everything. It is disguised as a Restoration-era movie, but it's clear that this is a well-worn clichéd story in wigs, if you but peek below the hood. The script is rather pat, the characters slight, and the overall effect forgettable. Hugh Grant, in the wake of his success in various Merchant Ivory Productions, and some fantastic comedies, is given a forgettable role as a scheming court fop into which he throws himself. His character, however, is such a stereotype that even his great comic gifts cannot make much of it. His character is effeminate and one note, a scheming harpie with no depth. Meg Ryan must never try to do an accent again. Leprechauns are more realistic than her Irish accent. Watching her performance here, voice coaches wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her Irish accent is like the Quasimodo of accents - you're horrified, but you can't turn away.King Charles II (Sam Neill) and Merivel's chemistry here is hilarious. The king has no dignity and it seems very unlikely that he would have become so buddy buddy with a doctor who has no noble credentials. Yet there, they are, all but doing shots together. Neill is usually better than this but he is atrocious here. He looks bemused and stoned in the movie, it's really terrible. Robert Downey Jr. is very charismatic and rakish in this film. As much as the work will allow, he imbues his character with charm and a lot of heart as he goes through his struggles. Ultimately however, this is a moralizing tale in wigs. The acting is weak and the script is terrible.

Gabriela Sanches de Sá Bergamo This movie is quite a piece, and is there to prove that there are great movies that are, somehow, forgot as times goes by. The main character is a delight, it's so easy to like him (I guess Robert Downey Jr has a very "likable" face anyway), and you are emotionally bound to him from his first appearance to the last fade out which is, in my humble opinion, what makes a good movie. The background is also very interesting. The post Cromwell revolution England is a place full of contrasting people and ideals, and the movie explores the differences between nobility and the ordinary men with the sad looking puritans and the ostensible royal doctor. But the movie has a few flaws as well: The timing gets kind of annoying and confusing in the first quarter of the movie as some of the characters are not properly explored, specially the Painter and Lady Celia, leading to some unnecessary over exposure of the main character. But then, the movie get everything together and put you there, inside the roller coaster of the story again, leading to surprising twists and a touch ending. :)

tedg You take a risk in filming any book, but here we have one of these fat simple books that flow easily and have simple substance. Its targeted at the sorts of things that appeal to romance readers: redemption, a hostile world, love, discovered honor. The book is a cartoon with faux travails from a lurid homeworld. If you were going to make a film of this without changing the book very much, and targeting the same audience as the book. You couldn't turn the story into something interesting, true or valuable. You couldn't make these characters matter. Lucky, because the director is incapable of doing so.What you could do is be lush. You'd create a home world that is lurid, with the earth sexually excited. You'd have full reds in a tumescent space (and rainy greys in contrast). You'd have novel ornamentation, excessive costumes. That's what we have here. As with other commentors, I say that the only thing interesting here are those sets. In this case, two women anchor and become part of the sets: one dark redheaded and one light. Oddly, neither are photographed as beautifully as they have been elsewhere.What's interesting is how our set designer has folded the sets. You can't have an intelligent introspected story because the book is so pedestrian . But you can have folded sets. We have a wall of receding arches that is really a tapestry through which the king enters. We have a model of London, in which the king and our hero meet. And the best of all, we have an Orrery with the king at its center. An Orrery, if you don't know it is a mechanical model of the solar system. Its a marvelous thing, and has an iconic meaning in films where it is used. I collect these images because they are so few and deep. This is the loveliest I know.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.