It has some appealing quirky touches, but Maeve Murphy’s comedy might have worked better on the small screen
Maeve Murphy is the award-winning theatre and film director whose debut feature Silent Grace (2001) was a tough drama about Irish Republican hunger-strikers in women’s prisons. For her new movie, she has gone for a larky comedy caper – for me it didn’t gel, despite some divertingly surreal touches. Kelly Brook plays Kate, an out-of-work actor dumped by her boyfriend on the same day as being laid off from her humiliating stopgap job selling cutesy home furnishings. In a rage, she conceives a bizarre plan to rob this store of its cash takings, imitating her secret heroine, beret-wearing outlaw Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame. There are some nice exterior locations in King’s Cross, London: a nod to the Ealing classic The Ladykillers. It has a quirkiness that might have worked better on television.
Maeve Murphy is the award-winning theatre and film director whose debut feature Silent Grace (2001) was a tough drama about Irish Republican hunger-strikers in women’s prisons. For her new movie, she has gone for a larky comedy caper – for me it didn’t gel, despite some divertingly surreal touches. Kelly Brook plays Kate, an out-of-work actor dumped by her boyfriend on the same day as being laid off from her humiliating stopgap job selling cutesy home furnishings. In a rage, she conceives a bizarre plan to rob this store of its cash takings, imitating her secret heroine, beret-wearing outlaw Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame. There are some nice exterior locations in King’s Cross, London: a nod to the Ealing classic The Ladykillers. It has a quirkiness that might have worked better on television.
- 2/4/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Read More: UK Distributor Swipe Films Acquires Rights to Festival-Winning Dramedy 'Taking Stock' [Editor's Note: This article is presented in partnership with Shinola in support of Brit Takes, our monthly dispatch on the UK film scene. As makers of modern watches, bicycles, leather goods, and journals, Shinola stands for skill at scale, the preservation of craft and the beauty of industry. Learn more about Shinola handcrafted goods.] Maeve Murphy is a name to look out for next month, especially if you are across the pond. As a native of Belfast, Ireland, she's brought her insight of the discrepancy between Irish and English heritage onto the big screen through her feature films. She kicked off her career over a decade ago with the controversial "Silent Grace," which tells the story of the Armagh Women's Prisons in 1980 and the unreported female involvement in the Dirty Protests and hunger strikes. Her second feature, "Beyond the Fire," followed...
- 1/14/2016
- by Elle Leonsis
- Indiewire
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