Who knew Stanley Tucci was a man of so many talents? Prior to “Big Night”, Tucci was best known for playing the accused on television’s short-lived “Murder One”. The image of him as a scheming bad guy is hard to shake off, which was why “Big Night” was such a joy to watch. Co-written by Tucci and directed together with Campbell Scott, “Big Night” is one of the best films ever made where food plays a major role (Japan’s “Tampopo” and Taiwan’s “Eat Drink Man Woman” also come to mind); though it lags in places and runs on for a little too long, Tucci’s directorial debut was an auspicious start.

“The Impostors”, happily, marks a return to fine form. Wholly written and directed by Tucci, this farcical comedy is as much an homage as it is a satire of the screwball comedies of Hollywood past. The set up is simple: Two starving actors (Oliver Platt and Tucci) offend an insufferable but much beloved thespian (Alfred Molina) who soon sends the police on their backs. Inadvertently stowing away aboard a luxury liner, they discover the actor on board and spend the rest of the journey trying to avoid him and getting into many scrapes with the crew and passengers. The kindly cruise director (Lili Taylor) takes pity on them, but her attempts to help them are thwarted by a Nazi-like colleague (Campbell Scott) with the hots for her. Meanwhile, the first mate (Tony Shalhoub) has nefarious plans to blow up the ship in a bid to help his deposed queen (Isabella Rossellini), a pair of French poseurs are trying to kill a bizarre sheik and a seemingly rich widow for their money, and a terminally dour heiress (Hope Davis) finds love with a similarly suicidal lounge singer (Steve Buscemi).

It’s all very whimsical and nonsensical, but the talented ensemble cast serves up a wonderfully inspired time of lunacy and madcap entertainment. Among the script’s many unexpected delights is a brilliant homage to silent film over the opening credits and inventive use of the subtitling technique for laughs. Although the many situations ultimately do not make much sense, Tucci’s writing is sure and the rapid-fire direction he employs moves all the implausibilities along so quickly that no doubt whatsoever ever has a chance to fester in the audience’s minds. In the large big-name cast, everyone performs well, with Isabella Rossellini’s opening scene a particular hoot, Allison Janney impressive in her small role as the French tart and Lili Taylor displaying great charisma as a leading lady. Steve Buscemi and Hope Davis also manage to find irony in their one-note roles as the unlikely lovers. But no matter how over the top these performances get, no one beats Platt and Tucci - as the stars of the movie, they ham it up shamelessly. Along the way, one begins to realize how likeable these actors actually are. For too long confined in roles which played up to stereotypes, Platt and Tucci finally reveal themselves as the ultimate impostors, portraying a cast of characters as the actors they play. The chemistry they share is obviously reminscent of the great Laurel and Hardy routines they try to recapture, and they are the best reasons why “The Impostors” deserves to be a great success.

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