Greed

Winterbottom's stuff is always interesting but unfortunately this one fell at some obvious hurdles. For two thirds it was an effective satire with some good performances (Coogan, as ever, a hoot) and some funny lines but in the final furlong any semblance of subtlety was dropped for silly plot developments and cheap sentiment, bashing the audience over the head with a point that had already been well made. A shame.

The overall message of the film about the fashion industry and its cheap overseas workforce is interesting. But as a comedy it didn't work for me.

If you like Coogan you're better off rewatching some of his other films or the series with Rob Brydon.

And waiting until this hits the TV / streaming services.

On the Greek island of Mykonos, British billionaire and fashion retail extraordinaire Sir Richard McCreadie (Coogan, in a role loosely inspired by Sir Philip Green) prepares to celebrate his 60th birthday. While preparations for a wild extravaganza commence, McCreadie is surveyed by Nick (David Mitchell), who has been tasked with writing his biography; a project that will hopefully salvage McCreadie's soiled reputation. Winterbottom's odd comedy is a satirical effort that examines the inequality present throughout the fashion industry. While it is evident that Greed is a film with a clear message to convey, it is somewhat frustrating to see it handled in such a clumsy manner. Greed tackles a myriad of themes, including wealth inequality, the refuge crisis and the superficial nature of reality television. Scattered throughout Winterbottom's screenplay are a wide range of characters, but very few of them actually feel fully realized. Coogan's McCreadie (an all-round unlikable man) doesn't even feel like a leading character in his own film, though Coogan makes do with the material he's given. David Mitchell is a welcome presence, for sure, and his portrayal of Nick, a mild-mannered, good man observing an otherwise seedy world within which he doesn't belong, results in one of the only likable characters in the film. Much of the comedy falls flat (save for a few chuckle-worthy one liners here and there), and the climactic scene takes a bizarrely brutal turn that feels tonally out of place with the rest of the picture. Greed certainly has good intentions, but the screenplay could have done with a few extra revisions to ensure a more cohesive structure. Mitchell is the standout here, but everything else is largely forgettable.

It's a pity that this ends with a slide-show of factoids apparently intended to give the issues raised by the film a 'men vs women' or 'third world vs first' slant. Actually, what the all-too-true-to-life story is about is money vs no money: the fact that most of it is scooped up by a few arrogant, entitled, savvy people, and the rest of us - men as much as women, west as much as east - are at their mercy. Haven't we just recently seen the way our former public water utilities have been given the Philip Green treatment by unscrupulous capitalists, 'leveraged' for billions while our rivers are choked with sewage? And similarly, there's a moment of moral clarity about how the amoral 'Green' fails to recognise the moral freight of what he does - 'in his mind, all he does is offer a price' - but the same does not extend to some 'good guy' characters whose actions are simply indefensible.

There's a pinch of amusement here, and a peck of anger, but none of it will have any effect on the Philip Greens of this world. They are too stupid and arrogant to be hurt by satire and, whatever devastation they wreak on others, they somehow always come out on top. Realising that, you can only come away depressed.

Steve Coogan gives a great performance as ever, but the rest of the film didn't quite hold it together.

The message Winterbottom was trying to engage the audience with became too preachy, particularly the end montage of statistics aimed at shaming the fashion industry and its use of sweatshop labour. This was wholly unnecessary as the story made this point without this tacked on piece of activism.

The CGI lion was also disappointing, as was the general direction of the story, and many of the characters felt under-developed and derivative.

It was all a bit too obvious, and very simplistic in its outlook.

We all know that the very wealthy and powerful mostly made that wealth through ruthlessness, this is an old, tired narrative now.