SnoopyStyle Jake (John Malkovich) and Tina (Andie MacDowell) are living beyond their means in a classy London hotel. Hotel manager Mr. Mercer (Joss Ackland) and his underling Victor Swayle keep trying to collect. Jake is down from a cocoa investment in Sierra Leone. Tina has a small highly priced Henry Moore sculpture from her husband Larry (Peter Riegert) which Jake would like to sell. Joan (Lolita Davidovich) is her friend. Deaf maid Jenny steals it for its beauty. The hotel investigates. The insurance company stalls on paying the claim. Distrust grows between the couple. Jenny's brother Steve tries to sell the ugly little sculpture.As a comedy, it's not that funny. It's intermittently quirky. Its pacing does not give it the needed tension. It's a bit of an odd duck. It has a darkness but isn't dark enough to be compelling. Nobody is worth rooting for. I worry more about the sculpture than any of the characters. This film needs an upgrade in intensity. I have questions about how Victor gets to ransack Jenny's home. I also have questions about who that lady is to Jenny. I would be more interested in following the odd little head than any of these characters.

bejasus This film probably has the highest ratio of great lines/minute of any film other than "Withnail and I." If you liked "Withnail and I," you might like this one. For all their differences, the two films share many of the same characteristics: a great script, a couple of grifters as main characters, quotable lines, funny scenes, and one or two moments that will break your heart. The two main characters in this film are also scroungers -- but at a high-end London hotel. The film follows them as they try to climb out of a hole they've dug for themselves, but the plot is less important than the characters. It's a great cast, working with a clever script. Like "Withnail and I," it's funny and ironic, but about love and hopes and individual identity underneath all that. Some of the scenes -- the funny ones and the bittersweet ones -- have stayed with me for years. I think it is John Malkovich's best role (which is saying something); Andi McDowell's also (which is saying less, but she is well nigh perfect in this).

fedor8 It was a real trial sitting through the entire duration of this tiresome film. It doesn't come even close to being successful as a comedy, and as a drama it is pointless and absurd. Additionally, the story could have been easily told in an hour; many events and characters are irrelevant and only prolong the suffering.The film gets annoying as soon as the deaf-mute maid steals "the object of beauty"; we find out at the end that she stole it because it spoke to her - what a load of crap. In the meantime, she returns it, then re-steals it! (Why Malkovich simply didn't put it in a safe place as soon as he found it remains unexplained.) The flaws and inconsistencies in the characterization grow as the film "progresses", and the whole thing is a waste of time.

StephenTaylor One of the most underrated movies of all time. I am amazed at how many people can watch this film and not get the point. The Object of Beauty is an intelligent conversation about rich and poor, selfishness and giving, and basically how to be! How to behave as a human being. The language of the film is irony, specifically situational irony. It is ironic that Malkovic's character refers to himself as a pig being placed in a very sweaty position. Pig's don't sweat! It is ironic that the female deaf character claims that the inanimate sculpture spoke to her. It is ironic that while John's character is reporting the theft of the statue we learn that he has stolen an object of beauty from another man; MacDowell's character. Ironic even more that the insurance investigator is used to bring this info forward. You will enjoy this film much more if you pay attention to the irony of the value placed by different characters upon this Henry Moore sculpture. It is worth nothing to some, only money to others, an emotional commitment to another, and an object of aspiration to one other. All of these perspectives speak to each other, and it is a very interesting conversation.