Main Cast: Matt LeBlanc, Eddie Izzard, James Cosmo, Nicolette Krebitz, Udo Kier
Release Year: 2001
Country: AT/HU/DE/US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
A few good men are sent on a secret mission as a few good women in this comic tale of wartime espionage, loosely based upon a true story. Steven O'Rourke (Matt LeBlanc) is an American intelligence agent who, during World War II, has been assigned to obtain an Enigma machine, a special encoding-and-decoding device that Axis forces have developed to transmit their most sensitive secret information. A working Enigma machine would be invaluable to the Allied cause; O'Rourke is able to obtain a machine, but Col. Aiken (Edward Fox), a British officer whose stiff upper lip sometimes overwhelms his common sense, mistakes O'Rourke for a plunderer and destroys the previous gadget, which is hidden in a typewriter. An altercation with Aiken lands O'Rourke in military prison, but he's released in time to carry out a new plan to obtain an Enigma for Allied use. A small factory has been set up in rural Germany to build the machines, which is entirely staffed by women, so O'Rourke, communications expert Johnno (David Birkin), and veteran intelligence man Archie (James Cosmo) are to infiltrate the plant disguised as women, with Tony (Eddie Izzard), an agent who moonlights as a drag performer, giving the men a crash course in looking and acting like women. All the Queen's Men also features Nicolette Krebitz as Romy, a double agent working at the Enigma plant, and Udo Kier as Lansdorf, a Nazi general. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Stefan Ruzowitzky - Director, Joern-uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen - Composer (Music Score), Gabrielle Kelly - Producer, Daniel Krausz - Producer, Marco Weber - Producer, Zachary Feuer - Producer, Joseph Manduke - Screen Story, David Schneider - Screenwriter, Jeff Stockwell - Screenwriter, June Roberts - Short Story Author, Digby Wolfe - Short Story Author
Taking gothic dance music and injecting it with a massive dose of indie rock sass, All the Queen's Men don't really fit into either scene. Instead they come closer to the sensual throb of Garbage, but far bluesier in their approach. Drummer Tamora Gooding, guitarist Cathering Capozzi, and singer/keyboardist Christine Zufferey first started the band in 2000, eventually garnering enough hype in their native Boston to win several awards in local papers and websites. The band played out live for around a year when they picked up bassist Joe Kowalski and stepped into the recording studio. Eventually releasing the thick and moody Curvy Baby in 2002, the band continued to perform live in the New England area. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
During World War II the British army is attempting to retrieve an Enigma machine from Germany. Having failed in previous attempts they decide to send four men undercover to the factory that makes the devices, deep in Berlin. Unfortunately the factory is populated entirely by women, and they only have men to send.
American O'Rourke (LeBlanc) teams with Britishtransvestite Tony Parker (Izzard), genius Johnno (Birken) and the reluctant Archie (Cosmo). The four are sent to infiltrate the factory dressed as women.
Dropped in the wrong area, the team must first try to find their bearings. Aided by Romy, a sympathiser to their cause, they find their way to the factory. They manage to retrieve the Enigma machine, against the expectations of the British army. Arriving home they find that they were tricked – the British government already had the device but wanted to make the Germans think they were still after it.
Reception
Roger Ebert mentioned the film in his book Your Movie Sucks. He says it's "a perfectly good idea for a comedy, but it just plain doesn't work." Ebert also mentions the problem with the plot being about retrieving an Enigma machine when "Anyone who has seen Enigma, U-571, or the various TV documentaries...will be aware that by the time of the movie, the British already had possession of an Enigma machine...The movie has an answer to it, but it comes so late in the film that although it makes sense technically, the damage has already been done."[4]
