Having just finished the UK television miniseries The Night Manager--wow. Wow. Wow. For anyone who hasn't checked it out yet, please do. I might do a more thorough review of it overall in the near future, but just to briefly gloss over its merits: it's a fantastically paced, well-written ensemble piece that holds together several different plotlines, ranging in a large range of locations, all with a very distinct flavour and in some way relating to the central plot of Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) working with intelligence agents to bring down Richard Roper's (Hugh Laurie) international arm's dealers network from the inside. The comparisons to Bond are not unwarranted; even though the source material is derived from perhaps the antithesis of Bond and Fleming, John le Carre, there's a gorgeousness to its globe-trotting settings and a strong stylistic flair given to the aura of the spy, reflected very well in the work of the ensemble overall; I'll get to most of their performances in the near future but for now, just to say that Toms Hiddleston and Hollander, Elizabeth Debicki are amazing in bringing out both flair and grit of their fictional universe, while Olivia Colman gives a brilliant performance in the more blunter, but no less fascinating side of things in the political/intelligence agents aspect of the plot.
The greatest performance in the show though, I would have to say, goes to Hugh Laurie as Roper. In the role, Laurie utilizes his usual strengths as an actor to a truly unique use in the form of his rather peculiar villain. Not peculiar in that he's particularly barmy or quirky, or even all that extrovertly evil. Rather, Laurie plays Roper with such a calm, charismatic quality of control over his other characters that nevertheless feels so inviting, and makes sense of the plot: how this people person can negotiate such horrendous deals so effectively, with such efficiency, by the way he sways people. His chemistry with the likes of Debicki (as his girlfriend Jed), Hollander (his second-in-command Corky) and Alistair Petrie (as his associate Sandy Langboune) is great because he subtly differentiates his approach to each with varying degrees of amicability and with Debicki, love and lust, but also ties them all into his domineering desire to control them. It's a brilliantly attuned approach that's so compelling to watch, this calm and easeful, almost Iago-like manipulation of both friends and enemies, with an incredible amount of charm to boot.
Watching him in turn being swayed by Hiddleston's Pine thus, is particularly fun to watch as Laurie depicts the cracks in his character's armour: the charismatic manipulator quality remains, but Laurie also reveals the very human weaknesses in him; I won't get into too much details about precisely what, but Laurie is great at making Roper humane but not too sympathetic, as that would be against the character. Laurie tempers these moments of humanity by interspersing them with brief glimpses at the much uglier side of Roper, which comes out whenever things don't go according to his plan. Laurie's best scenes are probably these as he's both quite pathetic in just how childish and spoilt he is in his anger, but also quite chilling in how incisively he tries to find out who's wronged him, and how. His performance in the final scenes of the show, in particular, are the highlight of this as he manages to make his character's end humorous, chilling, and oddly sad all at the same time.
Watching this series also reminds me how good an actor Laurie is when he's properly utilized. I've seen him in a few films where he's been a bit underused, and a few episodes of House where he seems perfectly cast as the sardonic doctor, which just goes to show he's a great actor when given the opportunity, but I feel Hollywood doesn't quite know how to use him...yet.
My first experience of the actor is probably from his role on the Blackadder series. In Season 3, as Prince George, Laurie is fantastic at just being a one-note idiotic, idle man. He's particularly great at being entertainingly over-the-top in his idiocy, playing wonderfully off Atkinson's deadpan approach as the striaght man in the comedic dynamic, but also works equally as well when he plays off some of the more boistreous, loud characters in the series like Samuel Johnson or Pitt the Younger, managing to be quite endearing in his character's complete lack of comprehension of courtly manners. Laurie's George is a great creation because he manages to be both effective as the man who's stupidity provokes the ire of everyone around him, but also sweet and charming enough to endear him to the audience.
Even better though is his performance as Lt. George C. St Barleigh in Season 4. Laurie perfectly attunes his performance in to that of the upper-class army man, a trope which could've potentially lent itself to mockery, but Laurie is excellent in making it actually one of the most admirable traits of his character: his prim and proper upbringing and polite disposition is what gives him his charm, and his loyalty to king and country is what acts as the perfect counterbalance to his fellow barracks officers, the pragmatic opportunist of Captain Blackadder and the completely oblivious Private Baldrick. He's as to be expected absolutely hilarious in every moment he's onscreen, whether he's delivering another one of his stupid anecdotes or good naturedly trying to socialise with Blackadder, and even when a scene doesn't involve him saying anything he always makes an impression. At the same time he also manages to convey a dramatic bent to the character; the final episode, in particular, involves some particularly poignant moments where George tries to keep his fellow men upbeat, and his final reaction at being sent out front, confessing that he doesn't want to die.
Plus, in this following scene, one of my favourites from the series, you could easily say he is the highlight.
Beyond these great comedic supporting roles, Laurie also has had some fantastic leading performances on television. From A Bit of Fry and Laurie to of course, Jeeves and Wooster, perhaps my favourite television comedy series of all-time.
Jeeves and Wooster is a great comedy series because every moment of it is funny. Even the 'dramatic' bits are always tinged with a bit of hilarity, and what better pair of actors to choose in conveying P.G. Wodehouse's constantly pulsating dry wit and satire than Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. The duo's status as best friends is all so evident from their performance here as the chemistry they share is most undeniable. It's a bond of both valet and boss, which gradually runs deeper over the course of the series, and every moment the two share is comic gold because of how good Fry's dry sardonic intellect and wit plays off Laurie's good-natured buffoonery.
Alone, Laurie's performance stands as one of the great creations of British comedy. Bertie Wooster is a tricky role because, while he's a ridiculous character in himself, he's alrso required to be a bit of a sane man in contrast to some of the other characters, in particular his even stupider friends Gussie the newt-lover and Tuppy the opportunistic scoundrel, the outrageous aristrocrat Roderick Spode, and Watkyn and lispy Madeline Bassett who hate and love him, respectively. It would be easy to be lost among all these great over-the-top comical performances, particularly the fantastic work of John Turner as Roderick Spode, but Laurie is marvellous in how he manages to be both the charming everyman in these situations, while also hilarious in his reactions to the ridiculous sidecharacters, and finally in scenes where he really gets to show off, is just a delight to watch whatever he's doing. It's another fine example of how when Laurie's on, he's one of the best at what he does, pure comedy; but as The Night Manager shows he also has so much more depth than just that.
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