We know the name from Shopgirl, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Leap Year, films of a questionable reputation. And this one obviously had problems as it sat around for a year before finally being released straight to video. We though enjoyed Patrick Marber's adaptation of Anthony Quinn's novel in which hideous theatre critic Ian McKellan gets himself sacked, then manipulates actress Gemma Arterton into sleeping with the newspaper's editor Mark Strong so he can blackmail him into getting his job back. We liked that he got his comeuppance but would have preferred it had it not been at the cost of the actress's life (I sense this is where the film loses its audience). So perhaps the story or adaptation wasn't as satisfying as it might have been, particularly as McKellan asks for all the trouble he gets.
Shot by David Higgs and then looks like it had been through some kind of muddy colour timing process, making it look like Arterton has a moustache in many scenes. Tucker unwisely shoots some of the ugliest close ups I've seen. So points off there also.
Good cast includes Claire Skinner again, Alfred Enoch, Ben Barnes, Romola Garai, Ron Cook, Lesley Manville.
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