I was given the DVD of "A Deal is A Deal" not knowing much about it at all so I was pleasantly surprised. If anything, this movie left me wondering how much difference the actors selected make to a film's success. Would this movie have rated (both on IMDb and at the box office) a lot higher if, for example, Paul had been played by Hugh Grant or Orlando Bloom and Rosemary by Helen Mirren or Julie Walters and so on? The story is good and the filming is good but the absence of big names seems to have held it back. That is not to say that the actors used don't do a great job - not at all! But how many people look at the advertising and say, "It's got no one famous other than Colm Meaney!" and go into one of the other metroplex cinemas? If they did, they missed out because, dare I say it, this film is way more believable than I suspect an American version would have been
Some reviewers have questioned the categorising of "A Deal Is A Deal" as a comedy and I wonder whether their sense of humour is limited to in- your-face slapstick-type stuff because there are some beautifully subtle (and typically British) comedic bits that I fear have gone right over their heads.
Gemma Arterton has, of course, gone on to become a much more major star than she was when this movie was made but her stint in this clearly shows the future that she has since attained (a Bond girl, no less!).
My only reservation about the story is that Paul would have had an awful lot of answering to do for running Tommy down because the computerised track records would clearly show that he stopped just a few yards short of the fatal accident site and then restarted his train. Also it would have come out at an inquest that he was a personal friend of Tommy's and that Tommy was terminally ill. How would Paul explain all that without incriminating himself?
By the way, is it just me, but if ever a movie gets made about the Beatles, wouldn't Mackenzie Crook make a great Ringo (if he can do the Scouse accent)?
Some reviewers have questioned the categorising of "A Deal Is A Deal" as a comedy and I wonder whether their sense of humour is limited to in- your-face slapstick-type stuff because there are some beautifully subtle (and typically British) comedic bits that I fear have gone right over their heads.
Gemma Arterton has, of course, gone on to become a much more major star than she was when this movie was made but her stint in this clearly shows the future that she has since attained (a Bond girl, no less!).
My only reservation about the story is that Paul would have had an awful lot of answering to do for running Tommy down because the computerised track records would clearly show that he stopped just a few yards short of the fatal accident site and then restarted his train. Also it would have come out at an inquest that he was a personal friend of Tommy's and that Tommy was terminally ill. How would Paul explain all that without incriminating himself?
By the way, is it just me, but if ever a movie gets made about the Beatles, wouldn't Mackenzie Crook make a great Ringo (if he can do the Scouse accent)?