The Hot Potato

I thought I might have found a gem when I came across this. Alas it's abysmal.

The 'official' blurb kinda tells the tale, but I would have said it thus: two London Eastend gobshites acquire a lump of 'hot' (meaning a chattel to which they do not have absolutely clear title of ownership) uranium and decide to 'monetize' it, as our yank cousins would put it.

First they approach Colin Meany's character, the local heavy, Harry - a role just made for Colm! - who takes them to 'the twins' - obviously you should read the psycho 'Cray Bros.' here - after which we meet a succession of weird and wonderful con artists, villains, bullies and a really spooky CIA spook.

And all the time the characters' domestic arrangements are moving ahead, complexifying the action and putting additional demands on the characters.

The action is full of novel ideas and twists and turns, yet never inconsistent - the storyline is well served by script and actors. Worthy of remark is the cinematography in so many European city locations, as well as out in the bush.

Overall it's just a fabulous film, the only way to lose interest during this is to die (laughing or otherwise) during the show. As another commentator remarked, it is not full of the foulmouthedness so usual today, and I must also remark that - unlike Hollywood - it did not leave a death toll to compare with Dachau, as most yank 'entertainments' do.

Buy it, rent it, pirate it - just don't miss it!

The premise for this so-called 60's style Brit caper sounded intriguing...except that only Ray Winstone has any sort of character or charisma.

Where the likes of Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers had oodles of fizz and bang and entertained us, when the script was a dud, this is just a dud all round. The other characters - and their actors I've already forgotten, ten minutes after it's finished. They might as well been office furniture for all their presence and acting.

The script is obvious and rather boring as we now know all about Plutonium - it has no excitement value whatsoever. The movie seemed to have the budget of a TV pilot 'special' - it's so obviously struggling that it's rather embarrassing. The direction, too, is particularly feeble, without any panache or style whatsoever.

I've been generous with my 3/10. It's not going to be too awful for those that might buy the DVD if they have a good idea of what sort of movie they're getting but for most Hot Potato is a waste of time and effort. And, yes, I do enjoy and own many of the old genuine 60's films on DVD - Too Many Crooks, for example - brilliant! Buy that instead!

Period piece. Brits ken and dan find a hunk of uranium and triy to sell it for cash. Although this sounds so similar to a u.s. Film from 1950, maybe 1960. The opening credits state: based on a true story by kenneth sneath. Stars ray winstone, jack huston. With all the wacky underworld characters they meet, and their own greed, it's something of a farce. And now that word is out, the thugs are out to knock em off and just take the uranium without paying. We're off to roma. With the germans and the american. It's an international heist! It's okay. No big surprises. Written and directed by tim lewiston.

In 2011's 1969-based true-tale Brit dramedy "The Hot Potato" two East End London wide-boys, Ray Winstone (married to Louise Redknapp) & Jack Huston, come across a huge chunk of enriched uranium (as you do) that with Huston's gf Lois Winstone (Ray's actual daughter) via mob connection Colm Meaney & 'middle man' Derren Nesbitt (excellent) they look to sell to the highest bidder in Europe. A double crossing twisty caper ensues (also involving the CIA (David Harewood) & minor support from the likes of Stephen Marcus & Phil Davis). Debut writer / director Tim Lewinston does let the pace even out too much beyond halfway, but still, it's jaunty & enjoyable fare.