Rent Greed (2019)

Ok, but preachy - Greed review by RD

Much of what I have to say has been said by other reviewers.

There are some amusing moments, mostly in the flashbacks to youth. The cast is star-studded.

But it does suffer from the preachy message it rams down the throat of the viewer.

I think we all agree that sweatshops are bad, but I'm not exactly sure how the makers are expecting businesses to operate. The lower the costs, the greater the profits. And profits are the goal of business, especially for public companies.

It's hypocritical to demonise capitalism whilst at the same time being avid consumers with iPads, £1000 iPhones, disposable fashion replaced every week, etc. etc.

And sensationalist messages such as 'sweatshop workers earn the equivalent of £3.63 a day' are meaningless if compared to UK living as is the intention.

Everything that's wrong with globalised capitalism - Greed review by NK

Steve Coogan plays 'Sir Richard "Greedy" McCready', a nasty, asset-stripping high street vulture in this satire in which Sir Philip Green is bound to recognise himself. Portraying himself as a bit of a cheeky barrow boy made good, a "self-made" man, despite his privileged private school upbringing, 'Sir Richard' sets out to fleece anyone at a disadvantage to him right from childhood. A great comedy which makes some important points about the way obscene wealth for the few is created from the poverty and misery of the many.

Funny and topical - Greed review by HM

Coogan is a talented chap and carries off the Phillip Green impression very well, a selfish go getting barrow boy. However, he understands the art of the deal. The driven go getting nasty personality is in your face from minute one. Plenty of laughs, based mainly around Greedy McCreedy's explosive put downs of those around him over whom he has hire and fire power.

His mother is a horrible but entertaining leprechaen of an Irish woman, given to put downs her son would have been proud of. The film revolves the arrangement of his ludicrous birthday party and flashbacks as to how he got where he is.

All in all, entertaining fun. However, at the end of the film we get a scolled lecture on the evils of the fashion industry; how much money fashion houses turn over and the low wages of workers in Sri Lanker and other third world economies. So what is suppose to happen? Tell factories in the rag trade to double their wages? All MrCreedy does is offer a price and sweat shop owners agree or not, it isn't the fashion houses, or any other industries job to establish the general wage rates in other countries. In any case everybody gets, what by our standards are low wages in these countries so they pay 10p for a coffee costing us £3.50 in the west, comparing service prices in one country with another is all about what you have to spend outside your own economy not the value of your wages in your own. I could have done without this sanctimonious nensense.

The film is entertaining and amusing. Iexpect Phillip Green won't want to see it!

Will you stop looking at me like that? - Greed review by AB

It would be funny if it wasn't so close to the truth. There's only so many laughs - generally one-liners - you can get out of somebody's objectionable personality and values, when you know how many people's lives they have ruined. Think of this as an expose more than a comedy, and hope the bastard can grow some sense of shame.

We couldn't get through it - even daughters didn't get the sub-plots - Greed review by MT

What killed the film for me were the strange and irrelevant sub-plots in the film which just distracted from the main theme of the film. Can't blame Steve or the other actors, just a screenplay which went awry. Shame but we all gave up on it. Not often I don't stick a film out to the end but this was an exception!

Rather watch an ad break - Greed review by SO

Awful I watched about half an hour and after that couldn't stand it any longer. Terrible acting particularly from the horrible Steve Coogan who I normally avoid like the plague. Horrible script, editing, what directing ? Just don't bother there are adverts on better made than this. Sad and so pathetic.

Entertaining Satirical Mockumentary - Greed review by GI

A satirical melodrama that is fun even if a little unsubtle that delves into the moral squalor of the super rich. This is epitomised by the character of Sir Richard 'Greedy' McCreadie (Steve Coogan), a billionaire high street retailer and clearly a caricature of the odious Sir Philip Green. Having suffered a big dose of bad publicity after appearing at a parliamentary select committee the film follows McCreadie as he sets up for a lavish 60th birthday party on a Greek island, which includes a roman theme, a wooden coliseum and a lion called Clarence. Isla Fisher plays Richard's awful ex-wife, Samantha and David Mitchell is a writer hired to write Richard's biography. The film follows a rockumentary style as it gradually reveals the lengths McCreadie will go to exploit and suppress people in order to make any profit. Coogan gives a sound performance even though he's not tested by the role because the script doesn't push the boundaries as it weaves between a bit of farce to the very real issue of the exploitation of women around the world who make the clothes the big retailers sell. The support cast are excellent and include Asa Butterfield, Stephen King (in a cameo as himself), and Shirley Henderson as McCreadie's mother. The film has a nice structure and is edited well to show McCreadie's rise from expulsion from a public school to hustling in London's rag trade. Not everything works here but it's an entertaining and at times thought provoking film.