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Presume that you were to receive a random phone call claiming that someone has stolen your identity. Of course, the natural reaction to this is to question who and how and then generally feel anger of some description. To make this scenario more interesting, let’s instead presume that you are actually a financial accounts manager receiving this unfortunate phone call. How do you react now? Do you give away more of your personal details to the telephone stranger who is over-sweetly informing you that you will be placed in a protection program of some sort in exchange for these details? Many people of sound mind will hopefully vouch to say ‘of course not’, which is in fact exactly why Identity Thief is such an unrealistic film to believe in from the very beginning.

 
With experienced director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses, Breaking In) and comedy writer Craig Mazin (The Hangover Part II, The Hangover Part III) behind crime/comedy Identity Thief, it is unfortunate that the film falls short on what the two talents are known for: making people laugh and any puns created from the writer’s surname. Instead, Identity Thief is a long and tedious watch, with the script’s only saving grace perhaps lying in sporadic witty one-liners given by starring con-artist, Diana (Melissa McCarthy).

 
Identity Thief is the story of what happens when a sociopath steals your identity and starts splurging all your hard-earned money. In this case, the unfortunate victim of said crime is rule abiding family-man Sandy Patterson, played rather woodenly by comedy actor Jason Bateman (Arrested Development, Horrible Bosses). As you will be reminded at regular intervals throughout the film, the name Sandy is actually unisex, which surely must have been a sore point for our lead character when growing up as he becomes very defensive when asked about it.

 
The film begins with financial accounts manager Sandy naively being tricked into giving his details away to experienced identity fraudster Diana over the phone. As it stands, all sympathy for Sandy should now be diminished due to his absurd stupidity for doing this, especially given his chosen career path. We meet Diana shortly after Sandy has unknowingly signed away the contents of his bank account to her and soon discover that she is in fact an obese and over-colourfully dressed woman who appears to be stuck in the 1970’s. Due to all the money she is accumulating from her constant fraudulence, one would assume that she would perhaps update her wardrobe and hairstyle to a more current century.

 
We’re less than three minutes into the film and Diana is drunkenly asking a bar full of people if they would like to see her swing from a chandelier. As an obviously staged comedic moment, it is spoiled by the knowledge that no drunk person in any film ever successfully pulls off chandelier-swinging of any sort. Two minutes later and Diana has been kicked out of the bar, been arrested and then finishes the evening by vomiting over a policeman. This disorderly behavior would be humorous if the drunken fool vomiting inappropriately act had not been overdone so many times in the past.

 
Back with Sandy and we discover that he is a married family-man with two young daughters and another on the way. Today happens to be Sandy’s birthday and he is spending the last moments of his evening discussing financial bills with his wife, perhaps we can let this now be a further inclination towards how dull and mundane his character actually is. The next day at Sandy’s job, we further discover that his boss, Harold Cornish (John Faureau), is generally not very nice and basically sees Sandy as something on the bottom of his Tahiti-travelling shoes. Unhappy with Cornish’s treatment of his employees, co-worker John Cho (Daniel Casey) decides to lead a revolt in the underground work car-park and asks Sandy to join him and his five strong army in creating a new company, promising a hefty pay-rise and his own office in return. It is all very Fight Club style, accept we probably all know the first rule of Fight Club, so let no more be said.

All now seems to be looking promising for Sandy, until he tries to pay for gas and discovers that his card has reached its limit, prompting him to figure out about his identity theft and, despite getting the police’s involvement, go on a wild goose-chase to track down the person who has tricked him. However, the purpose of the chase is not to lead the fraudster to the police and let them do their job (as one would assume), instead it is Sandy’s intention to actually present this person to his revolt-club new manager (Cho) so that he can be cleared of his low-credit accusations and secure his new job. Nevertheless, skip forward to Sandy and Diana’s first meeting in Florida and Sandy is soon punched in the neck and nearly killed with a car by his female counterpart, therefore it is needless to say that their journey together will not be a peaceful one.

Although there are some comedic moments and jewels of humorous dialogue delivered by lead Diana, Identity Thief’s screenplay largely fails in capturing any sustained audience interest due to how very slow and tedious it becomes to watch after the first five minutes. The script itself is laden with strong-language, featuring many sexual jokes throughout which perhaps fail as a form of comedic shock-tactic due to how overused and relied upon the references are.

Alongside the main plot, Identity Thief also features a sub-plot of a bounty-hunter and a duo of thugs who are also chasing Diana due to her past miss-dealings with them. The sub-plot would be more credible in its contribution to the main story if more time were spent mapping the characters out and explaining their motives, however, the characters featured within the sub-plot ultimately only seem to serve the purpose to showcase a few finely choreographed action car-chase scenes that are in fact very predictable to watch.

As a whole, the character’s featured within the film are all very one-dimensional in personality and qualities, making it very difficult for any character arcs to be believable to an audience. Fraudster Diana has no redeeming qualities to make her a sympathetic antagonist to the audience, in fact, any humanistic and empathetic characteristics displayed by Diana are all overshadowed by how unrealistic it is to believe that a fraudster of that degree can simply change her morals so quickly, yet be able to pathologically lie so easily. As a main character, Sandy is disappointingly dreary and, regardless of spending a large amount of time with an unpredictable sociopath, does not seem to acquire any signs of a metaphorical backbone throughout.

However, despite Identity Thief being the typical story of moralistic rule-abider meets crass risk-taker, the relationship and small-talk between leads Sandy and Diana is at times humorous to watch, particularly within the more stagnant car travelling scenes where the chemistry between the two actors really can be exploited for how naturally it flows. Moreover, the acting given by the supporting cast members is neither bad or exceptional, however is simply what would be expected from your regular dose of a comedy feature.

Identity Thief also features a varied and lively soundtrack delivered by Christopher Lennertz (Horrible Bosses, Supernatural). The mix of modern music juxtaposed with classical music helps to create a nice antithesis in moods and atmospherics, allowing some of the more crass scenes to become more humorous due to a purposely unsuited underscore of soft piano.

Despite the proven credibility of the cast and crew behind it, Identity Thief does in fact fail in stealing many laughs from the audience. Although it has a few witty one-liners, they are few and far between and are unfortunately not worth the two hour viewing experience.

By Gordon Foote.

Set in New York in 1995, From the Head tells the story of “Shoes”, a strip bar toilet attendant. The film plays out over a single day in his life, giving us a fascinating glimpse into his existence and the tragedies and comedies he sees in the line of duty.

Smart, funny, and heart-felt, From the Head has been doing the festival circuit for a couple of years now, picking up Best Feature in Philadelphia (2011) and being named an official selection at New York’s Soho film festival the following year, and it’s not hard to see why.  George Griffith’s debut directorial/writer effort brims with the kind of sophistication one would expect from a far more experienced film-maker; Jim Jarmusch comes to mind more than once as the story unfolds.

The vast majority of the film plays out within the confines of the men’s bathroom, but despite the small setting, Griffith manages to sculpt a film which never feels stationary or stagnant.  He does this by forging a cunning illusion; despite Shoe moving maybe 15ft in the entire 95min runtime, this is a road movie, no different from On the Road or Into the Wild in structure.  Our protagonist interacts with many interesting people as the story progresses and we are gifted a glimpse into the thoughts and mentalities of these individuals before moving on.  The twist on this common movie trope being, obviously, that the interesting people come to us for a change, instead of our hero travelling far and wide to meet them.  It works incredibly well, the constantly changing roster giving each new conversation, joke, or piece of advice an air of freshness, and providing an eagerness in the audience to see who will walk through the door next, the guy who doesn’t wash his hands? Or maybe the guy who pretends not to have any money for tips?

As well as proving himself a dab-hand behind the camera, Griffith’s script delights; it is engaging, funny, well paced, and above all, clever.   At the heart of any character study, and From The Head is certainly that, must be an interesting, rounded character to study – enter Shoes, played by Griffith himself.

Shoes is a mild-mannered, intelligent guy who has become a fixture in the men’s bathroom at the strip bar in which the film takes place.  The bulk of the film lets us watch as he charms, cajoles, and earns tips from various clients.  We observe as Shoes embodies facet after facet of himself in order to please different types of people.  He is, by turns, told he should be a poet, a philosopher, a writer, and a stand-up comedian, each time, modestly denying his capability.  It’s interesting to ponder whether this humility is an act to get another dollar or two dropped into his tips jar, or if three years of working in an atmosphere largely characterised by alcohol, sweat, and desperation has caused Shoes to truly question his worth beyond the tiled walls of the little boy’s room.

Though the interaction with patrons is excellent, it is this thread of the story, the thread which sees Shoes trapped between the realisation that he “wasn’t keeping a track of the time” and could be wasting his life dispensing soap and sweets, and a seeming unwillingness to move on, which makes him such a relatable character.  As the recession continues to fill headlines and looms large on our collective horizon, more and more of us find ourselves over-educated, under-paid, and our lives not taking on the shapes we were promised that they would if we worked hard and went to university.   Shoes, by his own-admission, attended a private school and is college educated, yet spends his days, and 99% of the movie, propping up the sinks in a bathroom.  A clearly intelligent, polite, versatile person trapped in a life beneath his potential?  Sound familiar to anyone out there?  Generation Y, we have found our champion.

It’s been a while since I’ve truly gushed about a movie to friends, but since watching From the Head on Tuesday, I have recommended it to anyone who will listen.  The interplay between characters is smart, the camera work makes the most of claustrophobic settings, and performances from familiar faces like Matthew Lillard, Jack Conley, and Jon Polito are brief but meaningful.  But, really, this is a one man triumph.  George Griffith writes, directs, and stars, bringing his vision to screen in what my mum would describe as “a great wee film”.

I am sure the small-scale focus of proceedings will put some off; this is a pop-psychology master class, but the issues it tackles and the revelations which hit home are not world changing.  That said, every now and again a film comes along that is just right up your street; this is one for me (the last being Wristcutters: A Love Story, if you’re interested).

I can’t wait to see what to see what Griffith works on next!

4/5

James Bond is quite possibly the most famous film character of all time. Seducing the ladies and entertaining the men for over 50 years, any actor who is tasked to take his Martini shaken not stirred will forever be known as Bond (even if they might be Indiana Jones’s Dad as well). Shortly before loading his Walther PPK for His Majesty’s Secret Service however, the most acclaimed Bond of them all Sean Connery was a straight laced soldier turned money making con man in the 1961 British comedy, On the Fiddle.

While on the brink of worldwide mega-stardom, a fresh faced Connery actually plays second fiddle to Alfred Lynch’s comedic cockney conman during the second world war. When arrested for wheeling and dealing outside an RAF enlistment office, Horace Pope (Lynch) escapes a jail term by saying he was about to sign up for the armed forces himself. Promptly shipped off to serve with the nation’s finest, Horace meets an eager and enthusiastic Pedlar Pascoe (Connery), who quickly becomes privy to Pope’s money making schemes and hi-jinx while on duty in the army. While swindling their way through the ranks and their fellow men’s pockets, the pair become unlikely heroes in the process.

The jokes are upbeat and light hearted albeit a little basic, and there is a touch of Sargeant Bilko about it, but Lynch’s cock-er-ny geezer is just a tad on the irritating side as opposed to Phil Silvers loveable oaf. Screwing over everyone for personal gain from the outset, it just becomes difficult to actually like the guy as he’s just a bit of a tit. Connery however, is rather expectedly the films star. Charismatic and charming, Pascoe is the real hero of On the Fiddle. He even fits in a cheeky bit of seduction that surely helped bag him the role of Britain’s finest spy. Hardly surprising to know then, that when the film was released post-Bond in the States, Connery became top billing for the newly named Operation Snafu. An obvious cash in on the back of his sky rocketing stock. They even made the poster look like an awesome spy film, instead of the throwaway threadbare comedy it actually was.

The balance of Lynch and Pascoe’s actions set against the backdrop second the word war is a strange one though. The pair’s selfish actions against those making the ultimate self sacrifice and serving for Queen and country is a little difficult to truly get behind until the final 10 minutes, where the film suddenly reminds us of the seriousness of war. The finale is actually when the film is at its best, it’s just a shame it was only left until the very end to reveal the pairs bravery and consequently, make them likeable leads.

Being a black and white film from the swinging 60s, the comedy is from a simpler time. Where conniving cheeky chappies were the ones cracking the jokes with the utmost simplicity. I had hoped for a bit of timeless slapstick to get a giggle myself, as everyone knows that people falling over with forever be funny, but alas, On the Fiddle relies fully on an old-school and dated notion of what comedy actually is. It’s more On the Buses than Sgt Bilko, and as a result, Cyril Frankel’s wartime film hasn’t aged quite as well as Ian Fleming’s iconic spy.