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A generally faithful adaptation of Jerzy N. Kosinski's quirky comic novel that is blessed with a devastatingly hilarious deadpan performance by top-billed Peter Sellers, Being There examines contemporary America's cultural life and finds it wanting in many ways. Sellers plays Chauncey Gardner, a middle-aged, sheltered illiterate who spends most of his waking hours watching TV, from which he gleans what little he knows of life. A bizarre series of events catapults him into the inner circle of a politically active industrialist (veteran actor Melvyn Douglas in an Oscar-winning turn), who mistakes Chauncey's childlike rejoinders for profundity and proposes that he run for president. Kosinski's script, rife with absurdities but savagely witty and unsparing in its digs at the intelligentsia and the political elite, is visualized with elan by director Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude), who keeps a tight rein on the normally irrepressible Sellers. Among the supporting players, Shirley MacLaine is deliciously subtle as the smitten woman whose amorous advances go right over Chauncey's head, and Jack Warden appears to advantage in one of his customarily blustery characterizations. Being There occasionally drags, and its humor isn't the type to provoke sustained belly laughs. But it's a thoughtful, substantive comedy that rewards patient viewers and yields additional treasure with repeated viewings. The DVD includes cast/director highlights. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Having lived his life as the gardener on a millionaire's estate, Chance (Peter Sellers) knows of the real world only what he has seen on TV. When his benefactor dies, Chance walks aimlessly into the streets of Washington D.C., where he is struck by a car owned by wealthy Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine). Identifying himself, the confused man mutters "Chance...gardener," which Eve takes to be "Chauncey Gardiner." Eve takes him to her home to convalesce, and because Chance is so well-dressed and well-groomed, and because he speaks in such a cultured tone, everyone in her orbit assumes that "Chauncey Gardiner" must be a man of profound intelligence. No matter what he says, it is interpreted as a pearl of wisdom and insight. He rises to the top of Washington society, where his simplistic responses to the most difficult questions (responses usually related to his gardening experience) are highly prized by the town's movers and shakers. In fact, there is serious consideration given to running Chance as a presidential candidate. Both a modern fable and a political satire, Being There was based on the novel by Jerzy Kosinski and costars Melvyn Douglas, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Eve's aging power-broker husband. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 883929037094
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Editions: Remastered, Special Edition
• Time: 2:10:00
• Sales Rank: 3,250

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