As if it being about an English nursing home full of opera singers wasn’t enough to get me and my frat bros in the seats opening day, Quartet is also the directorial debut of Dustin Hoffman, and stars Maggie Smith, the Dowager from Downton Abbey. DAMN, SON, this sh*t sounds hotter than San Felipe in Spring! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!
Lifelong friends Wilf [the venerable Billy Connolly] and Reggie, together with former colleague Cissy, are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers. Every year on Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, the residents unite to give a concert to raise funds for their home. But when Jean Horton, a former grande dame of the opera fallen on hard times, also Reggie’s ex-wife and the fourth and most celebrated member of their former quartet, moves into the home to everyone’s surprise, the plans for this year’s concert start to unravel. [Collider]
And thanks to SNL’s “Downton Abbey on Spike TV” sketch, I can never hear Maggie Smith’s name without immediately thinking, “Uh oh, you just pissed off the chicken lady.”
OLD CRUSTY GUY: Do any of you have a favorite singer?
YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER: Lady Gaga?
OLD CRUSTY GUY: Lady Ga-who?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, get it? He’s never heard of Lady Gaga! Because he’s old! I love how they communicated his unfamiliarity with Lady Gaga. Lady Ga-who? Somehow he managed to hear that whole name and the only part that tripped him up was the final syllable. Which was “ga.” I mean, I heard “Lady” and “Ga,” just not “ga,” on account of me being so old and out of touch. Man, that’s almost as good a short hand for “I’m old” as the scouts in Moneyball (“who’s Fabio?”).
Anyway, this looks great. At the First Exotic Marigold Hotel, it’s the only thing on pay-per-view. PA-CAAAWK!