High Heels and Low Lifes

Most crime films that purport to be funny usually end up with a few too many laughs, making their criminals bumbling morons. Which may make for some great laughter, but with no real menace to make you wonder why they're criminals to begin with.

Not this film - the balance between menace and comedy is carried out perfectly. The criminals are allowed to be menacing and intelligent (for the most part) while the two leads get on with the job of comedy. At least until the end, when it goes just a bit too far...

My major problem with the film is the relationship between Driver and McCormack. It never quite gels - although that could just be my inability to see McCormack's performance as anything other than Donna Air with an American accent!

All in all, worth a look - but not exactly an Oscar winner.

High Heels and Low Lifes

The trailer tells us this is the next ‘Thelma and Louise,' but this wild and spicy flick is more like Starsky and Hutch meets Absolutely Fabulous. Brought to us by the veddy British, Fragile Films, the same people that brought us Spice World and is currently between two Wilde takes; 99's ‘Ideal Husband' and next year's ‘Importance of Being Ernest.' Girls just want to have fun.

The overall theme is that old-time-Hitchcock-religion where Joe Everyman becomes unwittingly entangled into crime and intrigue. The stars are Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack as a nurse and thespian respectively. These are the two Joanne Everybodies with a UK twist of sophisticated slapstick like Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.

These women are presented as smart, strong and beautiful. Yay. And all the guys are either corrupt or useless. Just like real life. Min has a dumb boyfriend who's electronic eavesdropping picks up a cell phone mid-bank heist. Mary, the actress, fresh from a looping session with an animated tomato, sees the overheard phone conversation as an economic opportunity to squeeze the bad guys. `They'll never listen to a woman,' insists Driver. Mary says, ‘This is the twenty-first century and we do all jobs now.' Minnie crosses with `Do you want to extort money or raise consciousness?' Mary's answer, `Both!'

The rehearsals for the blackmail phone calls to the bad guys are a hoot. The writing comes from two comedy vets from the BBC, Km Fuller who cut his teeth on ‘Red Dwarf' and Georgia Pritchett from the sassy ‘Smack The Pony' and nicely directed by Mel Smith who did ‘Mr. Bean.'

Highlights include a very nice travelling matte midsection when both sides rally to battle reminiscent of the opening title sequence to Knots Landing and a smashing performance from Sir Michael Gambon, the great character actor which is another word for interesting.

With her arty and selfish boyfriend busy recording digital signals in order to make an audio installation, Shannon goes out for a drunken night with her friend Frances. Coming home later that night they are messing around with the sound recording equipment when they pick up what they believe to be a bank robbery in progress. Trying to report it to a police station snowed under with muggers, pushers and drunken yobs, achieves nothing and the next day they hear on the news that the robbery has taken place. With the telephone number of one of the gang still written on her hand from the recording equipment, Frances comes up with the idea of blackmailing the robbers for a cut of the cash. Unfortunately for her, she forgets that the gang are criminals and soon the stakes are much higher than Shannon or Frances bargained for.

Everything about this film put me off it – the fact that it was a UK comedy, Mel Smith, the cast of British TV comedians and the poor reviews, but anyway I decided to give it a go when it came on television recently. From the very start the plot lacked any sort of credibility, relying on some very forced points to start the story and to keep it moving throughout. At times this is annoying but for most of the film the rough energy of the film just about covers just how very silly it is. The film is meant to be a comedy but it rarely made me laugh, but it did have just enough rough humour to it to make it reasonably enjoyable as a sort of brainless piece of entertainment. Of course it is not a great film but the undemanding viewer will at least find it is easy to watch.

The cast are a mixed bunch, some of them make the film better but generally the majority are given little to actually do. Driver and McCormack are enjoyable and fun to watch and they make good on what could have been stupid roles. They play it larger than life and, although never funny, are a big part of the film being at least a bit of fun. The support cast throws up a lot of well-known faces from both acting and comedy, but none of them really make a mark other than showing their face. Dyer, Gambon and McNally just show up and do their best but comedians such as Sessions, Williams, Eldon and Simpson don't really have any material to show what they can do. Director Smith makes a cameo and as director he does an OK job without really ever doing anything unique; I suppose he at least makes it look more professional that some British comedies have – shame he couldn't find the laughs.

Overall this is a poor comedy if you are looking for consistent laughs, but it has got just enough rough energy to keep it moving and it never made me feel like the laughs were missing so much as just not there (if you see the difference). Of course it is basic and simple but I was sort of in the mood for that and, meeting it on these terms, it made for passable entertainment but I'll forget it soon enough!

An out of work actress and a nurse blackmail a gang of bank robbers - but have they taken on too much? Imagine Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with "Girl Power" and you've about found this movies level. Lots of comedy as Mel Smith shows he knows how to combine a funny script with slapstick humour, but without making the whole thing childish. A very good film I heartily recommend.

"High Heels and Low Lifes" is a British comedy from 2001 starring Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack as friends who become involved in a robbery and decide to take matters into their own hands.

Driver plays a nurse, Shannon, and McCormack is her actress friend Frances. Finding out about a robbery nearby, they decide to blackmail the robbers for $2 million. The gang is led by Kevin McNally and Michael Gambon.

It's much more convoluted and fun than I've just described. I only gave it a 7 because it actually could have been a TV movie. However, it's so darn funny, and everyone in it is great. I had never seen the prolific McCormack in comedy; she's excellent. Minnie Driver looks great and is hilarious -- the two make a wonderful team. I wish they had turned this into a series.

It's on Netflix - if you like the type of comedies that were done in the '80s before everything appealed to the lowest common denominator, this is for you.