There's only one reason to watch this film, and that's Peter O'Toole. He blows nearly everyone else off the screen and shows what a great actor he truly is. Despite having to share the screen for most of the time with the grand old man, Adrian Lester held the attention and worked well but Aidan Gillen on the other hand just failed to convince as the new upstart bad boy of British television. I just didn't buy him at all. For someone to be in that position so fast he would have just had to have exuded... I don't know... charm? charisma? something! What we get is a one-note petulant whiner. Doesn't work.
The shallow plot has holes you could drive a bus through and the final revelation is so obvious and so well signalled early on in the movie that when it finally comes it falls flat.
It was only half way through I cottoned on it was supposed to be a comedy (serves me right for not reading the back of the box) but it just didn't deliver and no amount of flashy editing could save it.
If you want to see a much better (and genuinely funny) film that explores similar themes take a look at the vastly underrated British film Funny Bones (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113133/)
The shallow plot has holes you could drive a bus through and the final revelation is so obvious and so well signalled early on in the movie that when it finally comes it falls flat.
It was only half way through I cottoned on it was supposed to be a comedy (serves me right for not reading the back of the box) but it just didn't deliver and no amount of flashy editing could save it.
If you want to see a much better (and genuinely funny) film that explores similar themes take a look at the vastly underrated British film Funny Bones (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113133/)