Le casse

Devoid of any hype "Scorched", is one of those movies, which totally takes you by surprise, and I mean this in the best of ways. It reminded me of Nick Gomez's "Drowning Mona", because it is set in a small town, its fresh, off-beat, and very funny. While it may not be everybody's cup of tea, individuals with a liking for fresh comedy will probably lap it up, just like I did. The movie tells the tale of average people who are fed up with the problems of everyday life, and so decide to take their revenge by robbing the local bank, which happens to be their place of work. The movie is well written, and awesomely directed by Grazer. Even the casting works very well, by mixing established, semi-established and young and up-coming actors, which include John Cleese, Alicia Silverstone, Woody Harrelson, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Paulo Costanzo.

I have to admit that after ten minutes I was ready to turn off the movie, I'm glad I didn't, it got a lot better and funnier. A good cast with an OK plot and a decent amount of humour. Well worth a try.

'Scorched' tries hard to draw laughter from the viewer and it does succeed in parts but overall it doesn't impress. The pacing is too slow and some of the gags fall flat. The comedy surrounding the heist is quite funny and John Cleese, towards the latter part of the movie, is laugh out loud hilarious. The subplot particularly the one surrounding the grudge Harrelson's character holds against Charles is one of the brighter parts of the movie. Woody Harrelson and Paulo Costanzo act well. Alicia Silverstone makes for sizzling eye candy but her performance is not up to marks. Rachel Leigh Cook is miscast. What 'Scorched' also lacks is style. It is set in a remote desert location but it could have used a little more energy boost. In the end, it makes for a decent one-time watch.

"Scorched" is a silly comedy romp about the antics of a motley bunch of unrelated people in a small desert community who plan to rob the same bank about the same time on the same morning of the same day. On the upside, the film offers a good good cast, plenty of familiar faces, and gets busy and stays busy with slapstick and wackiness all the way to the end. On the downside, it offers no big budget bennies and only squeaks by with a marginal no-brainer screenplay. Watchable though barely recommendable, "Scordhced" isn't a film the players are going to be proud to have on their resumes but should be an enjoyable watch for the less than sophisticated comedy palate, comedy junkies, fans of the players, etc. (B-)

Given the cast, and after seeing other comments on IMDb, I chanced it on this one, and it was well worth my money. I frequently burst out laughing. Undoubtedly the funniest bits are the extremely varied ways in which Woody Harrelson's character messes up - occasionally predictable, but well acted slapstick at its best. John Cleese was middling, best at the end, while the opening sequence has a splendid running gag and a marvellous outbreak by Alicia Silverstone. Perhaps Rachael Leigh Cook's and Paulo Costanzo's talents are underused, and the actor who played George Sr. in Arrested Development makes only a guest appearance. I hope there will be more good writing like this from Joe Wein.