Is the day-glo world of psychedelic Swinging London everything it's cracked up to be? It's culture-clash a-go-go when two Northern lasses (Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham) attempt to find out for themselves by seeking out fame and fortune on Carnaby Street in Smashing Time. But getting there isn't so easy, as both the ebullient Redgrave and the perpetually scowling Tushingham soon discover. Waylaid at first by a madcap escapade involving the near-destruction of a restaurant after Tushingham replaces a ketchup container with a soap dispenser, the two begin their social ascent by taking jobs as cocktail waitresses. But, unlike her more naïve companion, Tushingham discovers that everything isn't as "switched on" as it first appears. As demonstrated by countless montage sequences, they bungle their way through secondhand shops, an art installation featuring robots, and an olde tyme theme eatery (which hosts an extended pie-fight sequence), but the two grow up fast as they encounter monied hipsters, boys who like other boys, and a swinging photographer (Michael York) with an eye for Tushingham. Just when matters seem like they couldn't get crazier, Redgrave falls into a sudden fortune as the victim of a Candid Camera-style prank and uses her prize money to set herself up as a bewigged pop sensation. Tushingham, meanwhile, ascends to stardom as York's top model, a career choice that at one point finds her posing with raw meat. Just as both begin to wonder whether success is worth the price of their friendship, they're reunited in Smashing Time's frenetic slapstick finale, teaming up to destroy a third and final restaurant before retreating back North for the pleasures of beans on toast and the promise of the far more sensible and sedate 1970s.
Most Dugg A.V. Club Articles
Advertisement
- Comments