Film
Tara LUCKY BREAK (12) 107 mins .0.
A charming piece of escapist cinema
This prison escape comedy. directed by Peter Cattaneo id? The Full Monty fame) and showcasing some great British acting talent. p'OinIses a lot of laughs. So when Lucky Break opens with the most pathetic attempt at a lf>ank-iobbery ever seen on screen, it's hard to Suppress a loud wail of tilS’dl)D()lllll“.(-3l‘l.
But when the two sad Culprits. Jimiiiy (James Nesbitt. and Rudy il_ennie James). end up in HM Prison Long Rudford. things )on start to look up. |ns:de. they have to contend wrth a bunch of ridiculous somai ca" eatures —— fret" power- Crazed warden Mr Perry (ROn Cooki and tglreadfu'q, earnest supooi't officer Annabel (Olivia Williams) to an eclectic bunch of mad Nitrates. Together they concoct a bizarre escape plan — to act their way itght out of jar. by puttinc on a performance of Ne/SOn: The Mus/cal. and using the rig‘jging from the shows ship
as a rope ladder.
A stumbling love affair between endearineg cheeky Cold” Feet star Nesbitt. and his charming anger-management coach Williams eventually proydes the suspense that this film really needs. Will Jimmy choose forbidden love an’iongst
tomato-obsessed pyromaniacs. or lonely liberty o'
decision.
‘- tl‘e outside? It's ito easy
A farce with no real social agenda. Lucky Break runs away from. the realities of the British justice system and niobilises some old social stereotypes. to have a
good laugh. And cheerfully comic yet poignant. treacly-sweet yet deeply ironic.
does succeed as a charming piece of escaptst ()l'lell‘f‘t. Heather \"Vainisleyi
I General release from Fr: 24 Aug.
COMEDY DRAMA
WHAT’S COOKING
(12) 109 mins .00
Thanksgiving has long been dreary dramatic fodder for American filmmakers but ASIan-English director
Gurinder Chadha (Bhaji On The Beachi
gives the Subject a much-needed k ck up the backside With her outsder's perspective on the seCuIar festrvai. The multicultural iSSues explored l". Chadha's debut feature are also ii evidence in this warm comedy drama. which focuses on four ethnically disparate Los Angeles families.
African-American Alfre Woodard has to
cope with an interfering mother-ii-law: Mercedes Ruehl's Latino matriarch finds her celebration disrupted by l‘Cl’ estranged husband; Jewish lesbian Kyra Sedgwick and her lover Julianna Margulies have to pretend to be just good friends when the relatives arrive: and Vietnamese mum Joan Cheri faces different problems Will) three of her children.
Although the plot covers a lot of ground familiar from other films set on festive occasions. the range of racial experience and cuisme shown testifies to an LA. rarely seen on filiii. Chat‘lha
16 THE LIST 213A.;g-6 Set) 239'
Rare multicultural view of LA.
and ct write" (and spousei Paul Mayeda Borges slii‘t fluidly from one ii‘otitii-watering tliiiiier table to another. lll:X!llg flit;- political and personal if) a way reminiscent of John Sayies. i no filni aiso benefits from Stl‘O'ig female roles. iii particular for the excellent ltuettl ét')(l \."\.’oodard. (Simon Wart lCII,
I Fi/riilioust). {ft/inl‘iu/‘g/i fro/ti Fr; 3] Aug.
'COMEDY' CROCODILE DUNDEE IN LOS ANGELES
(PG) 94 mins 0
If Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) was a crocodile. he would be put down. To save himself from a slow and torturous death. Unfortunately. he isn't and so the audience has to wince through the belated third adventure of the once Iikeable croc hunter,
Mick's longtime companion. journo Sue Charleton (Linda Kozlowski. aka Mrs Hogan), is called to LA when her father needs someone to edit a newspaper. The couple head to LA with son Mickey (Serge Cockburn) where they become embroiled in a smuggling operation involving dodgy~ looking East European filmmakers. Mick goes undercover and finds work on the set of Lethal Agent 3. a sequel so bad that no one can understand why it is being made (the irony!)
Things go from bad to worse when Mick runs into Mike Tyson meditating
No more, please
in the park. This is typical of Crocodile Dundee 3. a boring scene that ends with a punch line that is about as funny as a boxer in a coma. Let's just hope that no one comes up with a third sequel. or — no. please — a prequel. (Kaleem Aftab)
I General release from Fri 24 Aug.
CLASSIC
TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER
(18) 95mins .0000 It's amusing to think that in this. one of Jean-Luc Godard's most plaintive examinations of the amorphousness of signs and how we read them. the location central to the film — the high- rise suburbs — has shifted from consumerist void to unemployment vaCuLim. From Two Or Three Things . . . to the world of La Haine. But then Godard made his film in the mid-60s when the idea of a young woman (Marina Vlady) prostituting herself for the demands of consumer disposables and trips abroad still had an air of irony. It's as readin an aesthetic conceit as much as the reality you'll find today. where the pavements of even the most salubrious Parisian areas are littered by numerous young ban/i'eue hookers.
But what Godard's film offers isn't so much an out-dated irrelevance. or meaninglessness (though it has no plot to speak of). but instead a profound tentativeness towards meaning itself. It's a film second-guessing the future while recording moments of the present; it's an invitation to thought more than an attempt at cajoling us to identify with time. place. or character. It is. if you like. nothing less than a subjunctive masterpiece. (Tony McKibbin)
I Fi/mhouse, Edinburgh from Sun 26 Aug.
Godard, ahead of his time
COMEDY
WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
(12) 97 mins 0
One of those films with a question in the title that demands a response from the reviewer (in this case. 'you could go to see this movre'). Sam 'George Of The Jungle Weisman's comedy is a mess. Star Martin Lawrence gives an indulgent performance. the plot is uncoordinated and the supporting cast are either underused or over-the-top.
Lawrence plays Kevin. a thief who is given a ring by new girlfriend Carmen Ejogo. Unfonunately. on his next burglaiy. he is caught by devious millionaire Max (Danny DeVito). who pilfers Kevin's ring, claiming to the police that it is his. The rest of the film concerns Kevin's would—be madcap attempts to take revenge and retrieve his jewellery.
As a star vehicle for Lawrence's talents. the film stinks. Between lazy impersonations of Richard Pryor and unconvinCing soft-focus romantic interludes with Ejogo. the actor adds neither wit nor presence to a laugh-free script (an abuse of the SOurce novel by Donald E. Westlake — The Gri'fters, Point Blank). And special commiserations go to two fine actors: William Fichtner, with a career-killing role as an effete Jason King-style detective. and a rarely seen Glenne Headly as Max's secretary. (Simon Wardell)
I General release from Fri 24 Aug.
Answer: It already has