Gambit
Starring: Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman
Director: Michael Hoffmann
Rating: 2/5
Gambit was first released back in 1966 with Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine in the two lead roles... fast-forward nearly fifty years and director Michael Hoffman has put a new spin on an old tale.
Private art curator Harry Deane (Firth) devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England's richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting.
In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.
There is just some that feels unfinished about this movie which is a major shame as it stars a cast that really could have done great things if they had just been given more.
The script really is lacking - and that is a surprise when you bear in mind that it was Joel and Ethan Coen that penned it.
While there are some moments of charm and parts that will make you chuckle what this movie really lacks is laughs - it is almost as if they forgot to put the comedy in.
It is almost as if this is an early draft of the film and huge elements of the story, the comedy and the character development are missing.
However Colin Firth is incredibly charming as Harry Deane and you can't help but like and get behind him as an audience member.
And he has some of the best comedy moments in the film - the scenes in the Savoy are particularly good.
Alan Rickman really does do mean and moody well and his acid tongue is on show here once again - but he is a character that could have been so much more.
As for Cameron Diaz well she is the most annoying thing about this movie and her Texan accent really will drive you nuts from the moment that you hear it.
There are some good supporting turns from the likes of Tom Courtenay and Stanley Tucci but the pair are sadly very under used - particularly the latter.
Gambit is a movie that you can kick back and lose ninety minutes in but it could have been a film that was a witty and hilarious heist.
When you think of everyone who is involved in this movie you cannot help but be disappointed as a great cast, a great director and great screenwriters have made a film that is truly forgettable.
Gambit is out now
Tagged in Alan Rickman Cameron Diaz Colin Firth