Takes itself way too seriously

Instant Favorite.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Czechoslovakian screenwriter, actor and director Jirí Menzel's sixteenth feature film is an adaptation of a novel from 1971 by Czech author and frequent collaborator of the director Bohumil Hrabal (1914-1997) which was shot on various locations in the Czech Republic and written by Jirí Menzel. It tells the story about Jan Díte, an old retired man who reminiscences the time when he as an ambitious young man encountered a successful business man who inspired him to become a millionaire and the time when he began working as a waiter at a high standard hotel in Prague for Skrivanek, the headwaiter who once served the king of England.This brilliantly directed Czech, German, Hungarian and Slovakian co-production by Czech New Wave director Jirí Menzel, a character-driven journey through a cheerful and ambitious man's eventful life, depicts a multifaceted study of character about a very determined, articulate and good-hearted man who has numerous relationships with various women on his way towards fulfilling his dream. Shifting from past to present with an efficient narrative structure, this well-paced, imaginatively written and humorous drama, which functions well both as a period piece and a social-satire, creates a visually beautiful and adventurous story about life, destiny, dreams and love.This moving comedy which Jirí Menzel got to direct after waiting ten years for the settlement over a rights dispute, is finely photographed by Czech cinematographer Jaromír Sofr, has some notable production design and some wonderful acting performances by Czech actor Ivan Barnev and German actress Julia Jentsch in a role which is significantly contrary from the one she played in German director Marc Rothemund's "Sophie Scholl-The Final Days" (2005). A romantic, charming and life-affirming film which gained, among other awards, the FIPRESCI Prize and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival in 2007.

it's hard to write a review about this film without using spoilers. I won't do so, though, for I feel it would be more or less criminal to diminish your enjoyment by giving away its storyline prematurely.'I served the King of England' is a Czech film, produced in a way only residents of this middle-European country can do. Its refined tongue-in-cheek-humor is pushed to the extreme all through. Fully embedded in a coherent plot with many unexpected twists and other surprises. Marvellously evoking the spirit of its times. With good acting and competent shooting.However, 'Obsluhoval jsem anglickeho krale' (= its original Czech title) may be too subtle for American taste. And a little historical knowledge about former Czechoslovakia comes in handy as well.Whatever, there can be no doubt that producer Jiri Menzel left us with a great film. In a true middle/East European style its pace isn't too fast, allowing you every opportunity to enjoy.

this is a farce in part, but i do wonder why there's the great American need to qualify this movie. so one will know the correct response, perhaps? aw, just sit back and be enlightened. if more folks had laughed at the Nazis they wouldn't have made it into power. and as for the woman being portrayed as lesser than the man, this is called history, folks. the movie is charming. barney is a mime's delight. and the sex is delicious, and certainly not raunchy as one reviewer on the DVD writes. i always find it stimulating to have to curb my love of MTV editing and car chases and to let the different pace of the European style wash over me. ah tempora, ah mores.

Watching this with a Girlfriend might not be the best way to enjoy this movie. It all starts pretty well, delicious cinematography, nice period setting, funny characters etc. The First scene with naked women as sexual objects fulfilling the whims of older powerful men in a fantasy style comes and goes, yep, that's fine, a bit politically incorrect but we can handle that, but then the second and third and forth and so on scene of exactly the same over and over again, and you start to wonder who the hell made this movie, some old guy using it as an excuse to visualise his own private fantasy world of subservient naked women who act out his every whim, cos that's what it looked like. There wasn't a female character in this movie that wasn't a willing whore or a Nazi. After over an hour of this my viewing partner had to speak up and the rest of the movie was a tender hooks affair as I hoped we could get to the end of the movie and find the deep message buried within without to many more episodes to set woman's equality back 100 years, which of course wasn't going to happen, more elderly men with sex kitten women at their beckon call and we reach the end of the movie and have time to contemplate the meaning of it all,..... and there doesn't seem to be any great revelation.Hey I like tits and ass sexy women as much as the next guy, but this movie had a really seedy feel to it. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I've obviously offended a bunch of people by daring to criticize the master work of a local talent but be fair, I'm not the only one who noted and had a problem with the objectification going on here.The fact that this film was so masterfully made, beautifully shot, it implied something important, but at the end of it all it was difficult to weigh the misogyny against beauty. "Sexism masquerading as art"?sorry to offend the directors fans but you know there's probably some truth in what I've said.