Greed

First Hit: Confusing movie about important subjects; income discrepancy, responsibility, and revenge.

I’m not very sure on how to write this review as the disjointed presentation of the subjects mentioned above left me wondering about the film’s intent.

At the end of the movie, next to still photos of the film’s scenes, we are given information about how clothing designers, companies, and sellers make billions of dollars of profit while the people who sew the clothing make as little as $2.47 for a 10-hour day of work.

The overall story follows Sir Richard McCreadie (Steve Coogan), Greedy McCreadie, as he’s referred to by many, from his high school days when he left school, focused on making money to his 60th birthday party. As we learn, he was always conniving someone to play cards or playing a game called find the queen. If not that he finds ways to buy something low and sell it high.

How he got into the fashion industry was more of an accident than a purpose. From a part-time endeavor, McCreadie excelled at the art of negotiating extremely low clothing manufacturing prices. Seeing an opportunity to make a lot of money with these skills, he decides to open a clothing store, and it becomes very successful. We see him in various scenes negotiating rock bottom prices. We also see the aftermath and conditions these workers work and live under given these negotiated low manufacturing costs.

The film’s plot centers on McCreadie’s preparations for a 60th birthday party that he’s giving himself in a Greek Beachside villa. We know it is expensive because he’s trying to spend less than £1,000,000 for entertainment. He’s also invited some celebrities, and because many cannot make it, he hires celebrity stand-ins. One funny bit has McCreadie looking at these stand-ins in the makeup room, and when he says, and you’re George Michael, the guy says “yes,” and McCreadie looks at his assistant and says, “well how’s that going to work, George Michael is dead.” They are also building a small version of a coliseum where there will be a gladiator scene with a real lion.

Then there are vital scenes showing McCreadie’s privileged ways by wanting the refugees who are living on a public beach removed because it won’t look good for the guests. There are scenes where a government agency is questioning McCreadie about his businesses, the number of bankruptcies he has gone through, how he has all his assets in offshore accounts and countries so he can live so well. In contrast, others that work for him or his manufacturers suffer.

Then there are the personal relationships. McCreadie’s son Finn (Asa Butterfield) hates him, as revealed, by his open discussion about killing his father. His ex-wife Samantha (Isla Fisher), is still very close with him, and as we discover early in the story, she care-takes much of his offshore money.

Lastly, the revenge component is shared through a couple of characters. All through the film, we track McCreadie’s official biographer Nick (David Mitchell), who is probably weak and influenced to write a positive book, as he is talking with family and party attendees.

One of the key people who is planning and setting up the party for McCreadie is Naomi (Shanina Shaik). We learn of her decades long dislike for McCreadie’s ways because a decision by him, got her mother fired. Naomi’s mother had to find another job and ended up in a factory that burned down where her mother suffocated to death. Naomi has a sincere dislike for McCreadie. Her unattachment from the revenge she gets is a fascinating subject that stayed with me for hours after seeing the film.

Coogan is rather good as this arrogant, self-aggrandizing, prick of a man.

The scene in which he chastises a color decorator in a new store location about the interior color and he holds up a Fuchsia sample is funny and sad. What’s precious about it is that later scene we revisit this store, and nobody wants to shop there because of the color. McCreadie rails at the staff, who pick this color? Fisher is compelling as the ex-wife who lays back and reaps the benefits of her ex-husband's ways. Mitchell is terrific as the hesitant biographer. In the end, his understanding of Naomi’s actions is well done. Shaik was probably the best in this film. Her compassion for the Greek children living on the beach, finding ways to make everything work, and her explanation for pushing the button was sublime. Butterfield was keen as the intimidated son who just wanted to be seen, heard, and respected. Sophie Cookson (as the daughter Lily McCreadie) was great as the daughter trying to live a Kardashian life by having her every moment filmed. The scene where she gives food to the homeless on the beach is so telling. Michael Winterbottom both wrote and directed this film, and I just didn’t think it came together well. The oddly timed switching between different scenes, McCreadie’s early life, the party, and being questioned in front of the government committee were not well placed. It came across as confusing.

Overall: There are good points made by this movie, but the confusing story made it difficult to piece it all together.

The Wedding Guest

First Hit: This is a good dark thriller, but it was the sites where this film was shot, New Delhi, Jaipur, Goa and other cities and towns in India and Pakistan, that made me smile.

The main character Jay (Dev Patel) is introduced while he systematically packs a suitcase and then heads to London Heathrow airport. We know nothing about him, except he looks very stern and on a mission. What we do know is that he’s packing his suitcase he packs several passports. This creates suspicion.

Where is he going? Why does he have multiple passports?

Landing in New Delhi seems to fit and makes it easy to buy into the trip because the actor is Indian. But we soon learn he only speaks English, he’s not from India. Because many Indians speak English, this isn’t an issue. His first order of business is to rent a car, and tells the agent he’ll return it in two weeks.

He spends a short period in New Delhi, but then heads north to Pakistan. Crossing the border, he rents another car and eventually finds a small town where he spies a young lady getting out of a Range Rover.

Adding to the mystery, he then buys two handguns and duct tape. When he is looking at the guns, he seems knowledgeable, and that’s he’s experienced with handguns. In case the audience didn’t know by his demeanor when he was leaving London, we understand now, this isn’t a happy wedding movie. Practicing his shooting skills, we note that he’s serious about what he is about to do and that is, steal the bride.

The bride to be, Samira (Radhika Apte), is marrying someone we never meet. All we know is that Jay seems intent on abducting Samira.

We learn that he’s under contract to do this for someone he’s never met, a wealthy Londoner, played by Jim Sarbh.

Later we find out that Samira and Jim were lovers before her being required to marry a Pakistani man by her family. We think, and it is confirmed later, she hates the idea of marrying this man, so when Jay steals into her room at the groom’s home, gags and handcuffs her, and takes her, she goes along with it.

That all happens in the first half of the film. The remaining half is about how do Jay and Samira find their way back to London? This becomes an issue because, during their escape from the compound, Jay has to kill a guard.

 The unusual depth in this film is that the audience never gets any picture about who Jay is and why he’s doing this. Yes, it seems for the money, but what drove him to do this kind of work – we never know. We do learn more about Samira because she tells Jay how she ended up in Pakistan ready to marry a man she didn’t know or like. And Jim is someone we only know as wanting Samira back in his life; had enough money to hire Jay to do this, and in the end, wasn’t really committed to Samira. Both Samira and Jay are somewhat lost souls finding their way through life, which makes their chemistry work really well.

However, having spent months traveling in India carrying my backpack, I loved the scenes in the streets of Delhi, Jaipur, and on the trains and busses. I intensely experienced all of them, and not only did the director get it right, but it also brought up fond memories of my travels.

Patel was strangely excellent in this role. I liked that he took this role which is generally out of character from his previous film characters. He did an excellent job of making me buy into his purpose and intent. Apte was divine as Samira. She came across as deeply mischievous, beguiling, secretive, and having her own agenda. As she said about her family’s description of her, she is a little “crazy.” Sarbh was strong as the wealthy playboy type guy who was willing to pay for his wish to get Samira back, but there was another agenda that made it compelling in a different way. Michael Winterbottom wrote a deviously dark script and his adept view of how to integrate India was outstanding.

Overall: I really enjoyed this film in both story and visual scenes.

The Trip

First Hit: At times very funny, insightful and interesting and at other times repetitively slow.

This film is about two friends, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, on a road trip through northern England to tour the finest restaurants.

Originally Steve was to do this trip with his girlfriend Misha (played by Margo Stilley) but she left him before the trip started, so Steve contacts Rob to go with him. Interestingly they are both very different in their lives as we learn while watching them on the trip, but they also share some aggravating habits and behavior.

The first joke to me was that they were on a road trip to taste the fine cuisine of England. Although there are some fine restaurants in England, the country isn’t known for its fine food, not like France or Italy.

The differences in their lives is expressed in how Rob is happily married to a woman who loves, understands and accepts him. They have a baby daughter and when we watch him converse with his wife over the phone, we feel his love.

Steve, on the other hand, is separated from a woman he loves. He is very jealous and insecure when we see him converse on the phone with her and then he turns around and sleeps with other women he runs into while on this trip. In those scenes we get the sense of how meaningless these encounters are because all we see of the intimacy is the woman leaving in the very early morning and Steve’s non-caring look.

They both are actors, comedians and impressionists. Steve longs for a big film role and Rob is quite happy with his “little man in a box” routine. Rob’s forte is impressions which are on display non-stop throughout the film. Some of them we have to hear over and over and over again. Steve is quite sarcastic to his friend and challenges him with his own version of the same impressions (one ups man-ship). They get a little testy during these exchanges over dinner but they are quite happy when they are singing songs together while driving.

Steve has a penchant for sharing his knowledge whether anyone else wants to hear it or not. His comeuppance is when he climbs a rock and gets bridled by an elderly gentleman who knows everything there is to know about the rocks they are standing on. Don’t think Steve quite gets that he is just like this intruder but the audience does. In the end, Rob goes home to his loving family and Steve goes home to his cold empty flat.

Coogan is pretty much himself I think. I don’t know him but it didn’t seem like this was a role for him but just showing up as he is. The same thing can be said about Brydon. Again I don’t know him, but the film seem to express these two as they are. Stilley had a short and somewhat lifeless part as the woman who loves Coogan, would like to settle down with him, but sees that he is still searching for his inner peace. Coogan, Brydon and Claire Keelan wrote this script and I dare say it was a bit longer than needed. Although I thought the Woody Allen impressions were the highlight, 6 less Michael Caine impressions would have made it work better. Michael Winterbottom directed this and overall did a good job of giving the look and feel of northern England and British humor.

Overall: This was an OK film with some very funny parts but a bit long overwrought.