AllMovie

Viewers dreading 79 minutes of Bronson Pinchot's zany antics in a bellhop uniform can breathe easier. Although marketed as Pinchot's movie, Blame it on the Bellboy hasn't much to do with him or his silly accent humor; rather, it's a capable British mistaken-identity farce that's closer in spirit to A Fish Called Wanda than Perfect Strangers. No one should get carried away with unwarranted accolades, but the film does have the element of surprise in its favor, having been so quickly dismissed that its few real pleasures creep up on a viewer. First-time writer-director Mark Herman, who would later cut his comedy with realism in Brassed Off! and Little Voice, shows some fitness for broader material here. His B-grade cast responds to the task at hand, particularly Dudley Moore and Bryan Brown getting some fond smiles if not out-and-out guffaws. Even Pinchot is more understated than one would predict, though he clearly he wanted to draw a connection between this character and the one played by Jerry Lewis in The Bellboy (1960). One of those movies that exists on the margins of memory, vaguely thought of as embarrassing and wrongheaded, Blame it on the Bellboy has enough moments to earn a grudging recommendation that comes almost in spite of itself.