Hold Up Heart

In the case of any relationship breakup, it is always good to resolve outstanding issues, talk things through, and hopefully make the split as amicable as possible. However, the place probably not to try to do this is during an armed robbery of a convenience store – however when Jeff runs into his ex during such a robbery, it does make things a tad more complex.

This film lets you into the tone it will have very early on; we have some very strong language, some odd characters, and a professional look/feel to the production – it is also pretty broad and brash. All of this continues throughout and for some viewers I guess this will work very well but for me personally it was a limiting factor in how much I got into the film. The style of delivery is the most striking aspect and, although it is quite derivative, it is well done with strong production standards and a good control over the location and presentation. The cast also play their parts well and fit into this tone of energetic broadness, playing it straight so that it supports the goal of being a dark comedy rather than being silly. The problem is the material really.

The concept seems like a good one, but the conflicts between the various relationships are not built on anything particularly smart; unfortunately the broad approach is also present at this level. As such it is not as funny (darkly or otherwise) as it wants to be, and the excessive language/violence/narrative isn't really supporting particularly well, leaving it feeling, well, broad but not especially strong. It is good for what it does, and it broadly works for what it is, but it is also that broadness and feeling of familiarity that limited it for me.