All
set for a good night in
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A British
version of Thelma and Lousie directed by comic Mel
Smith. Not a healthy combination!
Nigel
Bell
When it
comes to making action comedies the British film industry
has a pretty poor record. OK, Four Weddings And a Funeral
and Notting Hill were big successes but they drew on
everything that makes a British film great - good story, good
cast, drawing on the British way of life (with an American
presence to make it saleable across the Atlantic).
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| What
would you rather be - a nurse or a millionaire? |
High
Heels and Low Lifes lacks many of these ingredients. Most
crucial of all, it tries to emulate an American action comedy.
Big mistake. A scene in a British police station just doesn't
have the impact of one in downtown New York.
There
are two other parts of the mix which drag the film down. It's
directed by Mel Smith (of Bean - the Movie fame) and
written by Kim Fuller, one time collaborator on Not The
Nine O'clock News but most recently guilt of penning Spiceworld.
While
Driver and McCormack are excellent as the women attempting
to blackmail a gang out of its ill-gotten gains (at least
they look like Hollywood stars), the rest of the cast are
more familiar as actors from the world of television.
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| So
when's the next plane back to Hollywood? |
Michael
Gambon is well below-bar as the Mr Big of the gangster world,
Kevin McNally looks out of place and the first time you see
Mark Williams (who's playing a serious cop) you just want
to scream out "today I have been mostly eating beans."
For all
that, there are some nice touches - there's an hilarious moment
when our heroines are trying to decide what to say to the
robbers when they make their blackmail pitch.
There's
a good use of split screen when the crucial drop-off is being
made.
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| Try
to look mean. You're on the big screen |
There's
also a Mel Smith cameo in homage to Alfred Hitchcock.
But this
is no Hitchcock thriller. There are too many holes in the
plot. Why don't the villains just 'phone 1471 when trying
to discover who is blackmailing them?
And even
though it's only 84 minutes in length it seems like it's 15
minutes too long.
It would
have made a classy one-off TV special.
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