Gambit

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Ed L I thoroughly enjoyed this. I suppose I would: it's British humour. Most American reviewers just won't get it. And that's ok, as I don't get US humour much of the time. Well, on TV anyway. Many US comedy films are great! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/10/24 Full Review John C Gambit is a remake of an old Michael Caine film, where an art dealer (Firth) attempts to con his unbearable boss (Rickman) by enlisting the help of a beautiful, but slightly naïve, American cowgirl (Diaz). With those three names on the cast list, you know it's going to be good, especially when it's written by the - critically-acclaimed - Coen brothers. However, you may be wrong. And it's not the fault of the actors. To put it simply, they're given very little to work with, script-wise. Cameron Diaz does what she does best, i.e. she's cute, a bit dippy, but thoroughly endearing nonetheless. Alan Rickman is...well, Alan Rickman - he's devious, cold-hearted and charming. Still, so far, so good, but then we come to Colin Firth - an actor who's proved his excellent credentials in numerous films. However, he's the protagonist here - attempting to basically rip-off his boss by foul means. Therefore, for us to feel sympathy towards him, we need to see him as more of a good-guy. Yet, he does very little to warm the audience towards him. He's spineless, a bit too weedy and, just because his boss isn't very nice, thinks he can take him for all he's worth. He doesn't even give us that many laughs (a few, but certainly not many). Unfortunately for him, Rickman steals the show and - despite obviously being the baddie - seems to charm the audience more than Firth can. I know Gambit is supposed to be an addition to the long line of British `farce' films, but it does tend to rely a little too much on low-brow humour, rather than utilising the cast's natural talent. Also, because it's rated 12A, it can never really descend into the `gross-out' territory and do anything too risky. Unfortunately, what you're left with is a very capable cast, being reduced to simply one of a number of stereotypes (the English are VERY English, Cameron Diaz is VERY Texan and the Japanese are VERY Japanese). It's not a bad film. I quite enjoyed it, plus it doesn't drag itself out for too long. It's charming enough in its own way, only with the heavyweight names that go with it, it could have been so much more than just an excuse to watch Cameron Diaz in hotpants. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/13/24 Full Review Georgan G Lots of good actors, but the plot is too contrived to be interesting. Kept my attention only off & on. Will say that I laughed out loud a few times. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 07/02/24 Full Review Lanfranco C It is funny to compare London and Texas in a matter of art! Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/17/24 Full Review Henrietta M What a cast! What a shame !! Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 12/18/23 Full Review Emma B Turned off after half an hour due to a boring nonexistent storyline, unlikeable characters and Diaz's awful fake accent Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 08/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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