Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
Universal Pictures Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 8234209
- Running time: 92 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras: Trailer, Featurette, Director’s Commentary
Director:
- Jay Roach
(Meet the Fockers)
Producers:
- Robert De Niro, Jay Roch and Jane Rosenthal
Screenplay:
- Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg
(based on the story by Jim Herzfeld and Marc Hyman)
Music:
- Randy Newman
Cast:
- Jack Pike: Ken Stott
Steve: Nick Moran
Jenny: Kate Ashfield
Goat: Dominic Monaghan
Nigel Blanchard: Jack Dee
Nigel’s secretary: Elizabeth Berrington
Auntie Vee: Linda Bassett
O’Brien: Paul Kaye
Villa: Tamer Hussain
Mr Rhodes: David Gant
Jack Pike (Ken Stott) is one of the Spivs – a colloquial termsfor a flashily-dressed man living off shady dealings.
As the film begins, we see Jack pulling a fast one on a man called O’Brien (Paul Kaye),before dealing a more elaborate hand to a businessman named Nigel (Jack Dee), althoughit’s a short con that’s got nothing on Hustle‘s style, a series for which I occasionallyenjoyed the first series but only fully tuned in for the second one’s finale as it had gone off the boil.
Things don’t change for the better when a plan to swipe a lorry reveals that instead of containing cigs,booze, or any other form of contraband, it’s actually full of immigrants. What follows is that two ofthem are East-European siblings, Rosanna and Anton (Rita Ora and Christos Zenonos), andJack, little by little, takes pity on them and helps them to find their intended destination.
At the same time, Steve (Nick Moran) and Jenny (Kate Ashfield) try a con involvingcounterfeit money with a businessman who looks a bit like Sean Connery. Along the way, we see someforeign heavies, some other men involved in the trafficking of children for illegal and immoral purposesand Jack Dee’s character returns as he becomes more tied in with the proceedings as the film progresses.
Amongst all this, I have to ask – what’s the point of Dominic Monaghan‘s character, Goat? In fact,given that we’re expecting something along the lines ofSnatchand instead get a plodding drama that takes down avenues we never thought we’d go down, all of which arefar from interesting, and none of which are explained – i.e. the ties between the baddies and the recurringcharacters – you begin to question why such a pointless cinematic experience was ever conceived.
Highlights? Kate Ashfield. She’s lovely. Downsides? Almost everything else, and while a plasma TV in a hoteland the presence of Euros as one form of currency show we’re in the present day, the characters, plus thesuits and Cockney accents of Jack and Steve, sound more like something from the ’70s and give it a completelydated feel, which is quite apt if that means it’s not going to attempt to compete in today’s movie market.
Overall, I was expecting more from this – in fact, quite a different movie altogether from the one I got.What were they thinking?
The film is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a well-framed image that won’t lend itselfto being cropped to 16:9 when it comes to a TV screening. On the good side, there’s no problems whatsoeverwith the picture. The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and starts off well with some nice deep bass in theopening horse-racing sequence, with other scenes including the kind of music you’d expect from the aforementionedGuy Ritchie flick, accompanied by a little bit of welcome work for your subwoofer.
The brief extras include a Trailer (100 seconds, anamorphic 16:9), Featurette (16 mins,presented in 4:3 with letterboxed 2.35:1 film clips) which blends in movie clips with standard cast and crewinterviews, where the dialogue from the front channels has been copied to those at the rear, making fora very disconcerting sound indeed, and a feature-length Director’s Commentary.
Subtitles are non-existent, which is a shame given the Cockerney accents, there are a paltry 12 chaptersand the menu features some music from the film, set to headshots taken from the film of key cast members,replaying it over and over.
If you enjoyed the film then it may be worth a rental, but with such paltry extras it only has the pictureand sound to recommend it, and is not something I’d like to sit through again.
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.