Word: functional
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...most of his life, Iacocca says frankly, his politics have been a function of his class. "When we were poor," he writes in the book, "we were Democrats. But when times were good, we were Republicans." As recently as the 1970s he called himself a Republican, and two years ago he was approached about the job of Transportation Secretary by the Reagan Administration. "I'd happily serve a President on either side to run economic policy," he says. "I would like to be the economic...
...explanation. He is powerful, a VIP, yet his bullish candor reminds people of a pal at the local tavern who calls 'em as he sees 'em. He is feisty and anti-Establishment, but his patriotism makes that posture seem safe and red-blooded. Partly, his popularity is a function of the times: two-fisted capitalism is in vogue. After a long period of feeling cranky and skeptical, the country seems in the mood to have a hero or two. Moreover, his life embodies just the kind of happy ending that Americans like to celebrate: he had reverses, he fought back...
...north of Beirut. The commander of the Lebanese Forces, Fuad Abu Nader, 28, promptly removed Geagea from his post. Geagea's ouster, supported by Syria, quickly stirred dissension within the Lebanese Forces. Abu Nader tried to end the rift by announcing that in the future the Lebanese Forces would function independently of the Phalange Party, but his move came too late. Geagea's militiamen had already seized several Lebanese Forces barracks and at week's end controlled Christian East Beirut and much of the territory to the north of the capital...
...this all sounds like pretty horrible stuff out of which to make a light comedy, but Function is--if anything--too tame. Like all British comedy, the pace of this film seems as thick and trudging as cold plum pudding. Bennett spends the first half hour erecting the framework of setting and plot within which his characters work An American used to getting his hamour in rapid-fire bursts can find this very tedious indeed...
Admittedly, A Private Function does not reveal anything new and different about the English aristocracy. The film is different because it immerses the viewer in the bowels of society so suitably that he does not feel unclean himself. Bennett's low-key attitude keeps the film from rising above the level of an average Monty Python episode, but when compared with lawdry American attempts like wild Life and Arenging Angel, A Private Function almost deserves its royal welcome...