Uma Thurman looks impeccably glamourous in every scene, and Alice Eve amuses in her portrayal as a spurned lover of a rich director.
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Strangely, this film has been re-titled from "The Con is On" to "The Brits Are Coming", which seems to suggest that the local distributor is aware that the con is indeed on for this rather unfortunate mess of a movie. Looking at the names headlining the film, it's hard to imagine that so much talent had signed on for this bad a movie - what exactly did they see in the script or the entire bevy of unrealistic, unlikable characters that convinced them to come on board? The only mercy is that the film runs a short 90 minutes, but it's supremely difficult to recommend this over virtually any other film that's currently in cinemas.
This caper movie is all over the place when it comes to plotting (or the lack of one - the caper is unnecessarily convoluted when the end goal is such a simple one), and is filled with characters that essentially do nothing when they are onscreen (I'm looking at you, Parker Posey). It really only survives on the goodwill that one feels towards these actors for their previous bodies of work, especially since many of them have put in excellent performances in other indie movies. Uma Thurman looks impeccably glamourous in every scene, and Alice Eve amuses in her portrayal as a spurned lover of a rich director. Less charitable things can be said about the rest of the cast, particularly Tim Roth and Stephen Fry who essentially come off as one dimensional caricatures of "typical" caper movie characters. There's no heart in their performances and by the final reel it just feels like they are pottering onscreen solely to justify whatever paycheque they've earned for the film.
While The Brits Are Coming starts off with a bit of promise, it rapidly loses steam and narrative momentum (after just the first 20 minutes) and the descends into this hazy, drugged out mess that really isn't worth the effort to unravel. Coupled with many unfunny sequences trying to masquerade as dry British humour, as well as a very convoluted and abrupt denouement, and it's clear the film simply doesn't work on any level - not as an old-school crime caper nor as a satire on such movies.
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