Breaking the Bank

Nothing profound, not deep, just fun to watch, and had the Director mixed the sound better, would have been more fun. But they allow the music to play so loudly over the voices in too many people, that you miss what was said and it is more than annoying! Dialog should not be competing with music people! Please stop it. We should not have to struggle to understand what has been said. What is the point?

It is fun, that's all. If you really try to critique it, it becomes more work than watching it. It's primary value is to counter the dread of the daily news, and it does that well.

Kelsey Grammar is, to my mind, a genius of a comic actor. This is based , of course, on his bravura performance on what was possibly the best ever sitcom - Frasier. However he just does not seem to work on the big screen. Breaking the Bank is awful in almost every respect. The combination of American and English humour just does not work. The cast of the movie are seasoned performers with good work in their CV's but this film is not a good addition to them. Tamsin Grieg, Matthew Horne can be great but seem to be phoning it in here. Kelsey Grammar is the best thing in the film but with such a lousy script he is given little chance to show what he can do. Kelsey seems bound to be tied to the small screen - Cheers, Frasier and Boss were all successful ventures - Frasier is legendary, but his large screen outings seem all to have been failures, apart from his Toy Story voiceovers.

A glance at the cast list of Breaking the Bank raises expectations. There's a huge amount of comic talent here, but good actors need a good script, and they don't have one. Plot and characterisation are hackneyed. Pearce Quigley's turn as a wise homeless man is a particularly unwelcome cliche, and Mathew Horne's investment banker is as one-note as an electric drill. If Vadim Jean wanted to make a comedy that exposed the absurdity and irresponsibility that led to to financial crisis of 2008, there was merit in the idea and a big target to aim at. Unfortunately he missed it by a mile. Good actors are often reduced to trotting out well-worn one-liners that might have come straight from a Google search for jokes for a best man to make at a wedding. Just as disappointingly, the expositional dialogue designed to show us the workings of the financial world sounds as if it was lifted from Wikipedia. Vadim Jean remains a talented director but on this evidence he's lost his ear for dialogue. Three stars for a cast that work hard and do their best with terrible material.

This is a funny send-up of British banking and capitalism in general. There were many laugh-out-loud moments. I recognised many of the prime banking locations in London. This film is much better than the 1 out of 10 crowd say.

Just relax, watch it, and enjoy yourself.

Kelsey grammer is charles bunbury, the incompetent president of a very old but broke bank. Grinding (john higgins... better known for best in show!) wants to buy it. As do others. Can he sell it before the truth comes out about its poor financial condition? Or before his wife finds out how bad things are? In the meantime, charles is out on the street, and must learn how to survive. Some funny bits, where a bank exec not only brings his lunch in a lunchbox, but even has a note from mom with his lunch. Can his daughter, or maybe his homeless friend help him get his wife back? It's a bankroom farce! It's mostly fun.... moves a little slow. Many similarities to trading places, from 1983. Film directed by vadim jean. Story by roger devlin. Kind of.