Film

A Good Man in Africa

Name: A Good Man in Africa
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1994
Cast: Colin Friels, Sean Connery, John Lithgow, Diana Rigg, Joanne Whalley

Political drama

A 1994 comedy-drama set in a fictional African nation, following a scheming British diplomat's secretary juggling romance, political intrigue, and his boss's shady agendas. It's a smart, cynical examination of colonial bumbling and personal ambition wrapped in period charm and ensemble wit. For viewers who enjoy sophisticated comedies about morally flexible people navigating complex systems.

TMDb rating

2.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy dry, sardonic satire of colonial expatriates who never notice the world they are busy exploiting, and you like a comedy that gradually curdles into something uneasy.

Skip it if you want a brisk comedy with steady laughs; this one moves at a deliberate pace, and its humor is wry and often uncomfortable rather than broad.

What it asks of you: It runs about ninety-four minutes and rewards steady attention, since its jokes depend on noticing what the characters refuse to see.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Our Man in Havana1960

Alec Guinness plays a vacuum-cleaner salesman drawn into espionage by a British intelligence officer. Like A Good Man in Africa, it's a darkly comic look at imperial overreach, mistaken identity, and the gap between official pretense and messy reality.

But It moves at a deliberately unhurried pace, and the humour is dry to the point of desiccation. If you want laughs to land loudly, this won't deliver.

White Mischief1987

A languid thriller set in colonial Kenya, examining privilege, desire, and murder among British expats. It shares the same atmosphere of imperial decay and personal corruption, with the same cast chemistry and moral ambiguity.

But The pacing is glacial and the plot meanders. Many viewers find it more interested in mood than narrative momentum.

The Honorary Consul1983

Michael Caine as a burned-out consul caught between revolutionary politics and personal obligation in South America. It has the same DNA—colonial characters out of their depth, political manipulation, and the collision of official duty with human desire.

But It's been largely forgotten and can feel dated. The political commentary sometimes overwhelms the character work.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Good Man in Africa

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Topaz1969

Both films treat geopolitical intrigue as backdrop for character study rather than the point itself. The apparatus of government and international relations creates the situations where people reveal themselves.

Hitchcock's underrated Cold War thriller about espionage and shifting loyalties in Cuba and France. Like A Good Man in Africa, it's interested in the gap between official narratives and the messy personal motivations that actually drive geopolitics—and both take their setting seriously.

But It's a complicated, deliberately ambiguous political thriller with a diffuse cast and plot. Modern viewers often find it dated and convoluted.

Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in a sharp comedy about schemes, class reversal, and people trying to game systems they don't fully understand. The plot mechanics and the cynical wit about power and manipulation echo A Good Man in Africa's DNA.

But It's purely comedic and lighter in tone. If you're after the dramatic edge and political bite, this goes for easy laughs instead.

The Lair of the White Worm1988

Ken Russell's wild adaptation of Bram Stoker, set on a British estate with Amanda Donohoe as an aristocratic seductress and Amanda Donohoe presiding over baroque chaos. It shares the colonial setting, the scheming outsider protagonist, and a willingness to make evil people charming.

But Russell's direction is aggressively campy and unhinged. If you prefer restraint and subtlety, this will feel like watching someone throw a tantrum in a beautiful garden.

A Fish Called Wanda1988

Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and John Cleese in a crime comedy where seduction, betrayal, and linguistic chaos upend a heist. The ensemble plotting, the morally flexible characters, and the sharp observation of human weakness feel kindred.

But It's far broader and goofier. The tone doesn't have the same satirical edge or political subtext.

Mona Lisa1986

Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson in a noir about a criminal caught between loyalty and desire in London's underworld. It shares the obsessive protagonist, the beautiful woman who complicates everything, and the cynical view of power and self-interest.

But It's darker and more genuinely tragic than A Good Man in Africa. The mood is unrelenting despair rather than satirical comedy.

Passport to Pimlico1949

A delightful Ealing comedy about a neighborhood that declares independence from Britain. It has the same affection for British bureaucratic absurdity and imperial muddle, wrapped in genuine warmth.

But It's genteel and fundamentally optimistic about human nature. A Good Man in Africa is far more cynical about everyone involved.

The Remains of the Day1993

Anthony Hopkins as a butler whose loyalty to his employer blinds him to moral reality. It examines duty, complicity, and the costs of service with surgical precision and suppressed emotion.

But It's slow, introspective, and emotionally austere. There's barely a laugh, and the narrative is largely internal and reflective.

Raise the Red Lantern1991

Both films examine how characters use charm, sexuality, and performance to navigate systems of power they cannot overturn—and both suggest that survival requires complicity.

Zhang Yimou's hypnotic Chinese-language film about a young woman navigating power and desire as one of a wealthy man's concubines. It examines colonial-style exploitation through a completely different cultural lens, with the same tension between charm and corruption, seduction and survival.

But The visual and narrative style is fundamentally non-Western. If you need dialogue-driven comedy and familiar genre markers, this will feel alien and slow.

The Death of Louis XIV2016

Both films are interested in the ridiculous grandeur of imperial structures and the men who serve them—and both suggest that underneath the performance is just mortality and futility.

Albert Serra's 92-minute experimental film of the French king's final illness: almost no plot, just decay, ritual, and the gap between majesty and mortality. It shares A Good Man in Africa's interest in colonial/imperial figures revealed as out of touch and fundamentally powerless.

But It's nearly plotless, takes 90 minutes to show someone dying in bed, and has no conventional narrative. This is as far from mainstream cinema as it gets.