Review
by Moyra J. Bligh originally written for the "John
& Delenn Site"
This film is not great cinema, nor does it ever pretend to be. Totally
lacking in depth or any redeeming qualities, it is what it sets out
to be, a delightfully silly piece of fluff. A standard formula farce.
Slapstick humor, sight-gags, strange sound effects and old tired cliches
run rampant throughout this piece and even with the language barrier
I found myself laughing out loud in quite a number of places. I like
this movie, it's a nice, light, easy to watch, little diversion, its
only purpose being to entertain and amuse and it does just that, and
does it admirably.
In a plot to steal a master disc from a large record firm in Belgrade
called DiscoHit, the owner of a small record company persuades one
of the gentlemen in her organization to masquerade as a cleaning lady.
"She", in her red high heels and blonde wig, immediately catches the
wandering eye of DiscoHit's Director General and is fast tracked to
the position of executive secretary to Mira's character. In no time
at all the plot becomes rife with misunderstandings, complications,
mistaken identities and the wrong people sleeping in the wrong beds.
As well as the cross-dressing spy there's the usual motley cast of
characters, a cleaning lady who talks endlessly, mostly to herself
(interestingly played by Eva Ras); an effeminate older gentleman with
a wig; a couple of nymphos; a lush; a woman who will stop at nothing
to further her own interests; a husband who's attempting to philander
and a pair of young lovers. All of the mix-ups get sorted out in the
end, of course, and all the characters end up with what, or who they
truly deserve.
Mira plays "Vesna" one of the executives at DiscoHit, and from all
appearances the only truly sane one of the bunch. She is romanced
by, and falls in love with one of the young men who works for the
same firm, but a letter she finds in his apartment leads her to believe
that he's not really in love with her, but is only romancing her in
order to protect his job. Of course she's wrong, but the plot thickens
anyway. It's a major role and Mira has a great deal of on screen time.
Thankfully the director has recognized that Mira's talent for comedy
lies not in the slapstick variety but is of a softer and subtler style.
The role of straight man for a number of the jokes falls to her and
she fills it beautifully, putting her impeccable timing to good use.
The quiet femininity with which she plays her character works well
to highlight Milan Gutovic's larger than life rendering of the spy
and the scenes between them are delicious, most notably the moment
when "Vesna" breaks the news to her secretary that she knows "she"
is pregnant. Mira is charming, whimsical and fresh through the entire
film, and that makes a delightful and enchanting contrast to the buffoonery
around her. It is also these qualities in her portrayal that enable
the story of the young lovers to serve as a lovely counterpoint to
the broader comedy of the main plot.