The Movie, Appraisal

Foundation:  One reason this movie seems to be set earlier is that the three-year lease had just expired on "We Shall Not Be Moved," which aired the month before the movie hit theatres.  But the main way this movie feels like it takes place before MatH20 is that Larry is still living at Mr. Gideon's, even though he moved out on MatH13.  Obviously, movies take longer to shoot than television shows, but you'd think that the writers might've spoken to each other about some of the major developments.  Actually, the movie was written by Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer, who wrote the little-screen episodes, and they probably figured that it helped fill out the block if Larry's house was one of the six.  For those keeping score at home, we don't know who lives in #1 or #2, the first houses to be sold to Spiros.

The main way the movie feels like it takes place too far in the future is Robin and Chrissy's relationship.  You've got the theme song talking about Chrissy's feelings, and she and Robin seem to go further physically than before, unless more happened on "While the Cat's Away" than we were shown.  Yes, it's just necking, but it's a start and might've led to more if they hadn't been interrupted.  Chrissy's two selves, old-fashioned farm girl and sophisticated city girl, continue to fight each other in the midst of the sexual revolution.  (Of course, Chrissy's farm girl side has seen the animals do things, so she's not that innocent.)

As for the ways this seems to be set in a parallel universe, there are many.  The first is that there's no audience or laugh track, so the rhythm of the movie feels off.  There are some funny lines, like the one about giving children to dogs' charities, but things don't seem to build as well as they do on television.  The "pair" exchange during the strip poker game feels like it needs laughter for punctuation.

In place of the laughter, we get music at odd moments, only once explained as being from a record.  The music gives a corny, overly old-fashioned touch to the movie, especially when it's soft music for Robin trying to seduce Chrissy.

Also the design of the sets is disorienting, both the placing of the rooms and their decoration, with the clothes not harmonising well, like Jo's pink floral outfit clashing horribly with the purple lounge and a blue lamp or vase. 

Tenants:  Parallel-Universe Chrissy cooks breakfast, while she never cooks on the show.  PU Jo is still a rotten cook though.  I like that we see PU Robin at not only school but work.  It's also a nice touch to make Larry a waiter.  This allows them to help Chrissy get revenge on Pluthero for his greed.

PU Chrissy being a card shark is a definite contradiction of "Three of a Kind."  Her probably being good at chess but pretending otherwise is very different behaviour than in MatH19, where she gloated to Jo about beating Robin at chess. 

PU Larry is more flirtatious, not only actually asking Jo out, but blowing a kiss to Mrs. Roper.  The whole thing with his car is unlike anything on the programme, and seems to be there, one, to open things up a bit and make them more cinematic; two, to give him an opportunity to spend time with Jo while Robin and Chrissy have their alone time; and three, to give the trio a reason to be annoyed with him.  The thing is though, I feel sorry for Larry.  Yes, he clumsily tries to seduce Jo, but he's a gentleman about it when she says no.  Yes, he's a bad driver, but that's no excuse for Jo to take the wheel and then drive them into the lake.  And, yes, he interrupted Robin and Chrissy's date, but Jo had to come home sometime, and anyway, they were supposed to be working on the petition and it's not like Robin told Larry to keep Jo out as late as possible.  OK, Jo has frog spawn in her bra, but she damaged Larry's car.  And then the three of them and Mrs. Roper drive off in his car, without even asking his permission, while he's under the car and could've been injured!  Nothing he does in any universe excuses this sort of treatment.

The most important difference for PU Mildred is that her army sergeant is not an American but a Brit who's working in London.  There's a strong suggestion that they'll take up with each other again, her "compensation," or at least happily reminisce, with him as her "boarder."  With this, the Edmund & Hazel plot, and Pluthero's ambiguous marital status while he's seducing/ being seduced by Miss Bird, the attitude towards adultery in this movie is much more casual than on the show.  But then there's a lot more suggested nudity, too, and we never actually see anything.

The thing about the Ropers not having children feels odd because it's never an issue on the show.  Helen Roper has a line on the subject that goes something like "We tried and tried again.  We would've tried a third time, but Stanley had a headache."  Both Mrs. Ropers have maternal streaks, but it's a surprise to find George saying he'd have liked children, since there's nothing in either universe to support this.

Guests:  One big difference from the television show is that so much time is spent with guest stars, sometimes even in the absence of the regulars.  Most prominent of course are Pluthero, with his boss and chauffeur to talk to when he's not with the residents of Myddleton Terrace, and Sir Edmund, who has that phone conversation with his "friend" Miss Lovett.  And Pluthero and Sir Edmund have a scene together, plus the scenes of them on Today.  While this allows for satire of business and politics (and possibly both in the case of Spiros, if his last name is a reference to Agnew), it takes time away from the focus on the trio and their friends.  Even the RCST gets pushed aside for much of the movie, until it suddenly comes back in the last few minutes.  In a way, we seem invited to empathise with Pluthero, considering how the music celebrates when a Spiros sign goes up and mourns when one goes down.  And you could almost feel sorry for him at different points, if only his whole life weren't built on greed and deception.

The "celebrity cameos" feel pointless, even if they're meant to add colour to the studio scenes.  It's not just because I'm a Gen-X American that I can't go all fangirl over the likes of Smethurst and Walker, or even Milligan.  It's interesting that they're in the movie, but no more so than it's interesting that Norman Mitchell is in it, and at least his character has a pay-off.  Only Scooby-Doo ever really got away with the whole "OMG, it's C-List Celebrity!" thing.

It is ironic that Smethurst and Walker's show was called "Love Thy Neighbour," since both of the trio's female neighbours are presented sexually, one a mistress and the other a nymphomaniac who even scares randy Robin.  It's interesting that Mildred is immediately if unjustifiably jealous of Hazel, while George takes awhile to work up jealousy towards Arthur. 

Long-term:  The Ropers having been married 22 years is jumping the gun a bit, since they celebrated their 20th on MatH7, which aired 15 months before the movie came out.  And, yes, it does feel off that George and Mildred met during WWII, but didn't get married till '52 or '53, but that's a problem in both universes.

It probably says something about Britain and/or the '70s that it's less of a big deal for Larry to offer Jo pot than to try to seduce her, although no doubt the pot was going to be part of the seduction.  While there are pot jokes on the show, it's only in the parallel universe that two regular characters can have tried it before.  The shadow of the '60s definitely hangs over this movie, with Jo wanting them to occupy the building, and Robin trying to pass himself off as a freaked-out hippie vicar.  The activism of the trio, Chrissy in particular, with her speech-making, feels like sanitised '60s idealism, since being anti-development is less controversial than being anti-war.

Assessment:  The movie is definitely worth watching for a MatH completist.  It's uneven but probably better than the worst of the programme, like "Match of the Day" and "Three of a Kind."  It's at least more memorable.