The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)
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58% of critics liked it
(24 reviews) -
49% of users liked it
(11,765 ratings)
A proud Welsh community finds their civic pride and sense of community threatened by a team of surveyors in this charmingly eccentric comedy. Reginald Anson (Hugh Grant) and George Garrard (Ian McNeice) are a pair of British cartographers with Her Majesty's Ordinance Survey Office, who arrive in… More A proud Welsh community finds their civic pride and sense of community threatened by a team of surveyors in this charmingly eccentric comedy. Reginald Anson (Hugh Grant) and George Garrard (Ian McNeice) are a pair of British cartographers with Her Majesty's Ordinance Survey Office, who arrive in the small Welsh town of Ffynnon Garw, where, thanks to a linguistic quirk stemming from the British domination of Wales, many of the citizens in this town lack proper surnames and instead are identified by occupations or personal characteristics, such as Ivor the Grocer (Robert Blythe) or Johnny Shellshocked (Ian Hart). The town's greatest pride and most prominent landmark is a mountain (named, like the town, Ffynnon Garw), which they claim is the first mountain in Wales, and which helped protect the village from any number of Romans, Saxons, Norsemen, and other foreign invaders over the centuries. However, Reginald and George have some bad news for the townsfolk: under British law, a land mass must be at least 1,000 feet tall to qualify as a mountain, and according to their measurements, Ffynnon Garw comes in at only 930 feet, making it just a big hill. The citizens are shocked, insulted, and angry, and after much debate and careful measuring, Anson and Garrard conclude that they did shortchange Ffynnon Garw, but the most generous estimate still puts it at only 984 feet. Convinced that the town's honor and reputation is at stake thanks to these meddling Englishmen, the good people of Ffynnon Garw hatch a plan by which they will add fifteen feet to their "hill;" meanwhile, the easily befuddled Anson finds himself falling under the romantic spell of a beautiful but firm-willed local woman, Betty of Cardiff (Tara Fitzgerald). Believe it or not, this seemingly fanciful comedy was actually based on a true story. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Christopher Monger
- Written By
- Christopher Monger
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance
- In Theaters
- May 12, 1995 Wide
- Studio
- Miramax
Critic Reviews
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Mike Clark, USA Today
Though there's nothing in the film to equal the excitement of seeing a marquee collapse from the weight of its title, an attractive cast and setting turn a tired one-joke premise into an adequate view.
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Charlie Lyne, Ultra Culture
Reeks unmistakably of contractual obligation.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Pleasant, but unexciting.
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Karina Montgomery, Cinerina
Love hugh, the rest is passable.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Irresistible comedy set in a quaint Welsh village.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Hugh Grant
as Reginald Anson
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Tara Fitzgerald
as Betty of Cardiff
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Colm Meaney
as Morgan the Goat
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Ian McNeice
as George Garrad
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Ian Hart
as Johnny Shellschocked
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Kenneth Griffith
as Rev. Robert Jones
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Robert Blythe
as Ivor the Grocer
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Garfield Morgan
as Davies the School
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Robert Pugh
as Williams the Petroleum
- Robert Elson
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David Lloyd Meredith
as Jones the JP
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Hugh Vaughn
as Thomas Twp Too
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Jack Walters
as Grandfather