Comedy? I don't think so. Unless you are a 14 year old adolescent snickering at the swearing. Absolute rubbish. Doesn't rate even one star. Shame on you Jude Law and Richard E Grant.
I have to agree with the first review of this. Foul mouthed and not in the least bit funny. Vastly over rated film with E.Grant in particular giving a very wooden performance. Avoid
The first half of this film OK - and Jude Law excels as the main character, who seems based on the main character in Jez Butterworth's hit play Jerusalem really.
But half-way through, the BBC's diversity gestapo (and this is financed via BBC Films) obviously demanded more ethnic representation, so the action jumps to London where the main character's daughter's partner is a Sengalese African in London (SO unlikely because Senegal is a French-speaking country and very few live in the UK). I stopped believing in the film or characters at this point, if I ever did.
But hey, that's what happens in state-funded projects.
The half-way point is also where this film changes from being a comedy cartoon caper to becoming a sort of soapy family drama - which I hated. The first half is by far the best ALTHOUGH I was massively irritated by the supposedly Russian gangster whose accent is more Spanish (and sure enough, a glimpse at the credits showed the actor is not Russian). The way characters just vanish from the plot without explanation is also annoying.
There are plot holes, situations and characters I just didn't believe. This film just doesn't know what it wants to be - a cartoon caper comedy or a soapy family drama. It tries to be both, and ends up succeeding at neither.
I enjoyed some of the dialogue and for that this gets 2 stars and not 1. It's not very funny at all really, so don't expect much.
While its easy to see Jude Law as the charming yet mischeavious Alfie or as the respectable Watson he has a tendancy to follow up mild mannered characters with ones that rarely deserve the light of day. Such is it with Dom Hemingway, a man so morally reprehensible that he thinks everything should just fall at his lap.
The film follows Dom (Law) as he is released from prison and returns to the real world seeking what's his. When he was put away he lost his chance at a huge payday and now that he is out he wants back in but getting his hands on what he deserves might be a little harder than anticipated as he contemplates getting in touch with his long lost daughter Evelyn (Emilia Clarke).
The problem with the film is that Law gets so invested in the bad of Dom that he fails to express any good. This safe cracking baddie rarely feels justified in his actions, his attempts to reconnect with the innocent elements of his life ring untrue to Dom and to the film and because of it you can’t really like Dom something that may ruin the experience of the film.
However the film is full of witty one liners and funny performances, especially from Richard E Grant as Dom’s longtime friend Dickie. The film isn’t afraid to knock its characters down a peg and while Dom deserves it, making those moments oddly special, Dickie faces obstacles as well and Grant enjoys playing these moments.
Dom Hemingway isn’t the best person on the planet, he isn’t even a decent person but he is a uniquely watchable one and while the film does tend to push the boundaries of normalcy its fun to watch. However the film is a tale of an anti-hero but deep down there isn’t much of the hero in him at all