All the Queen's Men

All the Queen's Men

All the Queen's Men is a 2001 English-language action comedy war film directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and starring Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard. Made on a budget of $15 million, the film received heavily negative reviews from critics, earning only $23,662 in the United States.

Plot

During World War II, the British army is attempting to retrieve an Enigma machine from Germany. Having failed in previous attempts, they decided to send four men undercover to the factory that makes the devices in Berlin. Unfortunately, the factory is populated entirely by women, who only have men to send. American O'Rourke (LeBlanc), British transvestite Tony Parker (Izzard), genius Johnno (David Birkin), and the reluctant Archie (James Cosmo) are sent to infiltrate the factory dressed as women.

Dropped in the wrong area, the team must first try to find their bearings. Aided by Romy, a sympathizer to their cause, they find their way to the factory. They manage to retrieve the Enigma machine against the expectations of the British army. Just before they leave Germany, they realize they were tricked—the British government already had the device but wanted to make the Germans think they were still after it. They were specifically chosen as the team most likely to fail. Leaving Germany with an Enigma machine would, in fact, destroy the usefulness of the machine, as the Germans would know it was stolen and switch to a different code system. Archie volunteers to be captured with the machine to allow the mission to "fail". After he is captured, the team retrieves him and returns safely to England, leaving the Germans with the impression they have all the Enigma machines and the British are still desperate to obtain one.