44 Inch Chest (C- or 1.5/4 stars)
Ever watch a movie, & 1/2 way through realize, 'Hmm, this really isn't going anywhere, is it?'. '44 Inch Chest', a British crime drama directed by Malcolm Venville, is such a movie. After 21 yrs. of marriage, Colin Diamond (Ray Winstone) is in absolute agony; jealous, betrayed, & shattered by his voluptuous wife's (Joanne Whalley) recent infidelity with a lowly waiter (Melvil Poupaud). However, he has a handful of gangster friends (Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, Ian McShane, Stephen Dillane) who help him by kidnapping the wife's lover & holding him prisoner so that Colin can restore his wounded ego with brutal revenge.
Hidden in a boarded-up tenement house, the main characters ruminate over their pal's damaged manhood, & how to terrorize and/or kill the lover. As this man's life hangs in the balance, Colin wrestles his own demons, vengeance, grief, & self-pity. Will Colin's rambunctious, itching-for-a-fight crew convince him to do away with the guy (so they can head to the pub), or will Colin have a change of heart?
I suppose the director/writers aimed to tell a story that contemplates the nature of love & what it means to be a 'man'. I'm sure that was the intent. But it just doesn't work. I mean, seriously ... there is nothing in this movie. Other than a highly intriguing, & haunting opening scene, & some good performances from the brilliant cast, there is almost no plot. Literally, almost none. The gangsters kidnap a man, want to hurt him brutally or kill him, talk about it, & the movie ends. 88 minutes of emptiness. I'm not saying that everything discussed in that tenement house was bad. There are several aggressive, obscenity-ridden, boisterous, meaningful spurts of dialogue (thanks to the writers of 2001's Sexy Beast, also starring Ray Winstone). But it just adds up to absolutely nothing. Zilch.
Ray Winstone is great as the thuggish, but romantic-underneath-it-all Colin. Tom Wilkinson is humorous as Archie, a Mama's boy gangster {haha}. Ian McShane is oddly suave & debonair as homosexual gangster, Meredith. Stephen Dillane is stellar as the impotent Mal. And John Hurt is incredible as the elderly, dentured Peanut. I fault none of the actors. I like them all. But this is not a film. It's barely a film. Other than the tantalizing opening, & an odd flashback/fantasy sequence near the end, it's a (mostly) tedious affair. And it probably would barely work, even, as a stage play. There's just nothing in it.
Hidden in a boarded-up tenement house, the main characters ruminate over their pal's damaged manhood, & how to terrorize and/or kill the lover. As this man's life hangs in the balance, Colin wrestles his own demons, vengeance, grief, & self-pity. Will Colin's rambunctious, itching-for-a-fight crew convince him to do away with the guy (so they can head to the pub), or will Colin have a change of heart?
I suppose the director/writers aimed to tell a story that contemplates the nature of love & what it means to be a 'man'. I'm sure that was the intent. But it just doesn't work. I mean, seriously ... there is nothing in this movie. Other than a highly intriguing, & haunting opening scene, & some good performances from the brilliant cast, there is almost no plot. Literally, almost none. The gangsters kidnap a man, want to hurt him brutally or kill him, talk about it, & the movie ends. 88 minutes of emptiness. I'm not saying that everything discussed in that tenement house was bad. There are several aggressive, obscenity-ridden, boisterous, meaningful spurts of dialogue (thanks to the writers of 2001's Sexy Beast, also starring Ray Winstone). But it just adds up to absolutely nothing. Zilch.
Ray Winstone is great as the thuggish, but romantic-underneath-it-all Colin. Tom Wilkinson is humorous as Archie, a Mama's boy gangster {haha}. Ian McShane is oddly suave & debonair as homosexual gangster, Meredith. Stephen Dillane is stellar as the impotent Mal. And John Hurt is incredible as the elderly, dentured Peanut. I fault none of the actors. I like them all. But this is not a film. It's barely a film. Other than the tantalizing opening, & an odd flashback/fantasy sequence near the end, it's a (mostly) tedious affair. And it probably would barely work, even, as a stage play. There's just nothing in it.