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Dom Robinson reviews
Entertainment in Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: EDV 9076
- Running time: 88 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Featurette
Director:
- Ed Thomas
(Rancid Aluminium)
Producer:
- Mike Parker and Mark Thomas
Screenplay:
- James Hawes
Music:
- John E.R. Hardy
Cast:
- Pete Thompson: Rhys Ifans
Sean Deeny: Joseph Fiennes
Masha: Tara Fitzgerald
Sarah Thompson: Sadie Frost
Mr Kant: Steven Berkoff
Charlie: Dani Behr
Dr Jones: Keith Allen
Harry the dealer: Nick Moran
Rancid Aluminiumis the perfect example of a DVD that should never have been made.
Another Brit flick, another film starring Rhys Ifans – who showed promise inNotting Hillbut has since failed to follow it up with stinkers like this andYou’re Dead – and a largelyBritish cast of brat-pack wannabes.
I’m watching the film as I type and I’m trying to work out if there’s anything more tothe plot than the brief billing on the back, but it seems unlikely. Pete Thompson (RhysIfans, this time sporting a very dodgy Cockney accent) has a business, of which I’ve notworked out what he does but it seems to involve buying things in and selling them on.
He’s having problems with his usually-raunchy girlfriend Sarah Thompson (Sadie Frost).He’d rather have sex with his secretary Charlie (TV presenter Dani Behr) andhis sperm count is up the creek – in fact the only decent performance on view comes froma cameo of Van Der Valk‘s Barry Foster as his doctor, using the same SouthAfrican accent he spoke in BBC1’s Roger Roger.
Top this off with a terrible Irish accent and plenty of f-words from Joseph Fiennes,an abysmal movie-bad-girl-specific Russian accent from Tara Fitzgerald, a god-knows-whataccent from Steven Berkoff, cameos from Keith Allen, Nick Moran and afew nobodies who portray less life than a mannequin and do you really care that the onlyway Pete can solve his problems is to get involved with Russian mafia?
A reasonably decent picture with few drop-outs, but the widescreen 1.85:1 ratio isnon-anamorphic(imdb.com states a ratio of 2.35:1but it’s a Super-35 print).The average bitrate is 5.36Mb/s.
The sound is typical ProLogic from EiV. Certainly nothing to get worked up about.
Extras : Chapters :There are 16 chapters which isn’t enough and the start times quoted inside are over10 hours in the wrong (!) Languages and Subtitles :There’s just one language on this disc – English in ProLogic and no subtitles.Again. Again. And there’s more… :A Theatrical Trailer lasting all of 32 seconds and a 6-minute Featurettemixing in clips from the film with chat from the cast and crew. Certainly no surpriseshere. Menu :A static and silent menu with options to start the film, select a sceneor view the trailer and featurette.
Overall, if you did like this film and can find it for around a tenner, it’s worthgetting. Otherwise, don’t bother. The half-mark this film gets is only for usingDavid Bowie‘s Survive over the closing credits and the fact that I refuseto give any film zero points other than Fellini‘s Satyricon.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.