The Hot Potato

An interesting idea played straight in 'City in Fear' (1959) and with tongue in cheek in 'Kiss Me Deadly' (1955), but here with a score that occasionally parodies John Barry's for 'The Ipcress File' (from which it also borrows the black CIA spook with a hat and a pipe) to make sure we know it's being played for laughs; of which there are very few, alas. The very last shot, however (borrowed from 'Kiss Me Deadly'), is worth sitting through the end credits for.

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!

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

This film reminds me very much of The Italian Job as a traditional British comedy caper. The actors are very well cast and play their various characters extremely convincingly. Not the usual role for Ray Winstone but nevertheless a winning performance as Kenny. Jack Huston played a very convincing but not very worldly Danny and David Harewood was brilliant as the FBi agent who seemed to be able to appear through walls.Great twist to the end of the film

The European locations were very colourful and gave a greater depth to the movie. I particularly liked the old cars used and the car chase was wicked. All in all a great film for the family, no bad language no excessive violence, just a real good feel factor film. Buy it rent it enjoy!

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!