Honest

This film started poorly and did very little to pull itself up and away from the lowest common denominator; 'roll up and see the All Saints get their boobs out!' Any film needs more than celebrity nudity to make it watchable - sadly Honest didn't have much else to recommend it. The script is average, the plot has an exciting base but doesn't build on this, and the Appleton accents are 'novel' at best. For me Melanie comes away her head held high. She is sweet and engaging as Jo, but is that because she is a good actress or that Melanie Blatt herself is sweet and engaging? The film would always be slated in England regardless of how good it was. It isn't terrible, but it definitely isn't anything to write home about.

Foreign critics have received this movie much better than British ones. Possibly because, although Dave Stewart has done a reasonable recreation of sixties swinging Hippiedom in London, it really isn't that interesting to home-grown audiences any more. The addition of three-quarters of a well-known girl band (All Saints) gives it even less charm (although one of the ladies concerned turns in quite a reasonable performance, as well as letting the camera linger longingly on her bosom. Nice to see ex-pop star Dave Stewart make a go of directing now his music career isn't what it used to be - he's done a reasonable job but he will hardly be hailed as a great director for this effort.

This was I film I saw by accident, the film I meant to watch being sold out. As a result I had no preconceptions about it, no prejudice about the leading actresses, which in this case was probably a good thing. The acting of the three pop stars playing the three criminal sisters, Robin Hoods except that they themselves are the poor they give to, is not all that bad, and probably is scrutinized harder than usual because you know they are not really trained actors. The character of Gerry in particular is well played, despite the occasional false note in the cockney accent. They get themselves into trouble with drug dealers and local gangland bosses and drag in an innocent American who falls for Gerry after she assaults him with a life size roughly female and half nude work of art. There are comic moments to keep the film going when the action is thin on the ground, note the rich aristocratic heir who fills his time putting out a 60s subversive magazine. The portrayal of 1960s London and the contrast between those caught in their hippie revolution and those in the East End whose lives seem little changed since the 1940s feels reasonably authentic and is one of the pleasures of the film. One scene of a drug effected festival can give an edge of vertigo. The film touches on a lot of issues through its characters, rich versus poor, traditional versus modern, female equality, but does not explore any of them in any depth. While this may annoy some, I believe many would argue that this is not the point of the film. Overall, do not expect a classic or a memorable impression on your life, but if you are open minded and let yourself simply be entertained then you could well have an enjoyable time watching this.

Honest has had something of a rough press in England; it's content and cast earning it a pre-release reputation as "The All Saints Movie". (Even though one of the group - Shaznay Lewis - doesn't appear) More precisely, it has another reputation - that of "The All Saints Exposing Their Boobs Movie". If that's the reason you would want to see this film (and it was a small part of the reason I went. Well, okay, a fairly large part. A large part. Okay, alright, it was the only reason I went to see it. Happy now?) then you'll be disappointed. The scenes in question, heavily cut at the girls' bequest, last for no longer than three minutes, or less than 3% of the film's runtime.

What is slotted into the place of a perceived celebrity nudefest is a look at sixties counterculture. We even get a Hendrix impersonation, an LSD trip and Bootsie Collins in the cast. Music is of the era, with some covers of Motown originals by the three girls evident in the background. However, it's all so self-consciously done (Nicole, as Gerry, can't even sit down without picking up an authentic copy of a 1960s Radio Times) that it comes across more as a pastiche or someone's anecdote of what the era was like, rather than the supposedly-genuine recreation of Dave Stewart's youth. Similarly, the satirical bent the movie favours in this regard is a little too broad to be fully effective; though there is a nice little in-joke with "Clement La Frenais" appearing on a roadsign, and a scene where an acid-soaked hippie debates the nature of existence to a cow.

The other half of the film is a look at East End villainy; the three girls playing a small-time armed robbery unit who clash with a bigger outfit. Nicole is the definite lead with by far the largest role. She does reasonably well, carrying a surprisingly effective London accent. Mel Blatt, the one who doesn't have to strip, has the smallest role, possibly only 10 or 15 minutes in all. This is a shame as she gives a nice performance, and her lack of achievement with the opposite sex does cause some of the film's main amusement. By far the weakest of the group is Natalie Appleton as Mandy, a tough psychotic. Except she's neither tough nor particularly psychotic and her ordering a crowded room at gunpoint is especially unconvincing. As is her accent, come to that. Thankfully, she too gets a minor role, possibly twenty minutes or so.

There's also a love interest with Peter Facinelli as Daniel Wheaton, the romance perhaps not always convincing due to strained relations off screen. In a scene which gives the role-reversal of A Clockwork Orange's "man kills woman with phallic object"; Nicole tries to squish Daniel with a statue of a female nude. He overcomes her, and, eschewing a stunt double, Nicole found herself covered in bruises filming the rest of the fight sequence. What followed has been reported differently, some magazines alleging that during their sex scene together Nicole yelled "cut!". Her account in the reliable Empire magazine states that the fight had caused them to have a massive argument. So much so that the atmosphere was hostile for their lovemaking scene and that, while Nicole didn't stop the filming, she was extremely pleased when a low-flying aircraft disturbed the shoot and curtailed it prematurely.

In the same publication the singer was attributed with the following unpromising quote: "Everyone has dodgy first films. But everyone has to start somewhere, and not every actor's first film was great". When your leading actress starts an interview with a sentence like that, you pretty much know what you're getting for your money. But ultimately, three things will go through your mind as you leave the cinema: 1. The film is no classic, but certainly not as bad as you've been led to believe; 2. The 60s were not as much fun as people make out; and 3. Bob Dylan was a truly awful singer.

Despite the pathetic protestations of the Director and production company, this film was nothing more than a 'Spice World II'. Nothing wrong with that as Spice World had an ardent audience of pre-teens/ teens and made money. But no, Honest Productions seemed to think that 'Honest' was serious art for adults. Very misguided, but apparently they persuaded their distributors of same. Had the Director curbed his ego (and obvious desperation to be seen as a serious director), cut the violence and sex so that the REAL audience for this film: teen and pre-teen fans of the All Saints had access, this film might actually have found its true audience and made some money. Yet it seems only adults went to see movie, in hopes of getting a good look at the Appleton sisters' breasts. In casting three non-actors who obviously couldn't muster up the ironic edge to give a silly story any real comic value; attaching an aging pop star who clearly can't direct; and trying to sell this as 'serious art', the team behind this pic cut their own throats. Why didn't the distributors, who ought to know better, insist that this be edited to get a 15 certificate? That's even more idiotic than the film itself.