Are You Being Served (film)

Plot

The clothing departments floor requires renovation; rather than let the staff sit idle while the area is closed off, the management sends them on a paid holiday in Costa Plonka, a fictional city in Spain. Their hotel and its surroundings prove to be dismal, and the group tries to pass the time by acting on the crushes they have developed for one another in the workplace. This results in disaster, as multiple amorous notes reach the wrong recipients and everyone gets wrong ideas about who fancies whom. Meanwhile, Carlos, the hotel manager receives an unwelcome visit from an old acquaintance, Cesar Rodriguez, who is after Mrs. Slocombe after seeing her (doctored) passport. He is also plotting a revolutionary uprising and wants to use the hotel as his base. As a result, the Grace Brothers staff get a nasty ending to their holiday, narrowly surviving a gunfight between the revolutionaries and federal troops. During the gunfight, the staff locks Cesar in a bathroom stall and sends it floating up in the sky with a parachute. They are inadvertently saved by a group of tanks that arrive on the scene; these prove to have been commandeered by Young Mr. Grace, who wanted to visit his beleaguered underlings, but could not find a taxi.

Cast

The senior sales assistant on the mens counter, expansive of personality and sexually ambivalent.

The head of the ladies department, and the films main female protagonist. She maintains an exaggeratedly dignified demeanour, but can easily become pugnacious in a crisis.

The icy floorwalker at Grace Brothers. He fancies himself a ladies man, and frequently makes himself ridiculous in his attempts to be seductive.

The disorganized junior of the mens department, quietly looked down upon by the other staff members. He has a seemingly insatiable tendency to make fun of his co-workers, and irritates Mrs. Slocombe especially.

The Cockney junior of the ladies department and Mrs. Slocombes friend. She is the most sensible person in her workspace, a fact of which she is irritably aware.

The head of the mens department and the oldest member of the staff. He has a kind heart, but tends to be cranky, forgetful, and perpetually ready to fall asleep.

The officious manager of the floor. He is constantly mocked because of his bald head and big ears.

The ancient and quietly debauched head of Grace Brothers department store.

The head of the packing department. Coarse of personality, he is clever enough to secure better treatment for himself than any of his nominal superiors.

A young waitress who works at the hotel. Lusted after by several of the characters, she is smitten with Mr. Humphries (whom she makes intensely uncomfortable).

A terrorist with a crush on Mrs. Slocombe.

The moderately dishonest hotel manager, and Cesars unwilling accomplice.

Reception

Are You Being Served?: The Movie received generally poor reviews, for instance described by DVD Verdicts Michael Stailey as a film that is "guilty of violating almost every law of comedy and film." The film is widely considered to be lacking in originality, plot, and focus. At present, the film holds a 58% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the cutoff for a positive rating is 59%.