Macleane: Jonny Lee Miller
Plunkett: Robert Carlyle
Chance: Ken Stott
Lord Rochester: Alan Cumming
Lady Rebecca: Liv Tyler
Lord Gibson: Michael Gambon
Director: Jack Scott
Screenplay: Robert Wade, Neil Purvis, Charles McKeown
Cinematographer: John Matheson |
"Plunkett & Macleane", played by Robert Carlyle and Jonny Lee Miller of "Trainspotting" fame, is an odd couple comedy set in 18th century London. Both down on their luck the unlikely pair team up to rob the rich and give to themselves - Macleane wants to finance the high society lifestyle to which he is accustomed and Plunkett, an apothecary down on his luck, hopes to finance his escape to a new life in America.
Whilst Macleane has loads of fun playing the "Gentleman Highwayman" and romancing the Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler), Plunkett does all the hard, sometimes dirty and wet, work. Not one of these three central characters worked for me - I didn't find them engaging or entertaining and I was left wondering why the screenwriters had even bothered to write Lady Rebecca into the script. I guess a boys' fantasy has to have a beautiful woman with a heaving bosom even if she is unnecessary to the plot, what little plot there is.
First time director Jake Scott, son of Ridley and nephew of Tony, has a background in music videos and this shows itself in the stylized format of the film and his anachronistic choice of music. And the dark and gloomily lit opening of the film, which he claims is meant to be "a little disorientating for the audience", simply annoyed me.
On the positive side, Alan Cumming is very funny as Lord Rochester, the fop to end all fops, complete with pierced eyebrow (another 90s anachronism). He gets to go to lots of parties, say lots of camp things and model a fantastic range of outfits. Ken Stott as Chance, the Thief Taker General, out to get both the girl and the highwaymen, is suitably evil and Michael Gambon as Lord Chief Justice Gibson, Lady Rebecca's uncle, is a wonderfully greedy, corrupt and blustering aristocrat.
Ultimately however, "Plunkett & Macleane" is a film where the filmmakers are clearly having more fun than the viewers, or at least this viewer.
If the thought of 18th century courtiers dancing to late 20th century dance music excites you, then maybe you will find "Plunkett & Macleane" far more entertaining than I did. Certainly the young woman sitting next to me thought it was great fun.
|
