Director: Malcolm Venville
Writers: Louis Mellis, David Scinto
DVD release Date: April 20 2010
Studio: Momentum Pictures
Number of discs: 1
Region: 2
Price: From £10.99
Running Time: 91 mins
Certificate: 15
Starring: Ray Winstone, John Hurt, Ian McShane, Tom Wilkinson, Stephen Dillane, Joanne Whalley, Dave Legeno
A beautifully shot striking opening scene sees Ray Winstone as Colin, lying in the middle of a completely trashed house repeatedly listening to “Without you” – smashed glass litters the floor, the cushions are ripped open, objects are strewn, the patio door is wide open and the dog is hiding under the table.
Colin’s wife, Liz (Joanne Whalley), has left him causing him to fall apart. Unable to stop muttering “Can’t fucking believe it. Maybe I loved her too much – maybe that’s it,” Colin is the shell of his former self. His friends, an unlikely band of four potty mouthed gangsters who are remarkably civil on the surface, decide to take action, forcibly removing “Lover Boy” from a local pub and throwing him into the back of a van.
Tom Wilkinson plays Archie, the gangster living with his mum who watches Panorama with her and Ian McShane is the slick openly proud suave gay member of the gang, Meredith: “With me sex is sex. No more, no less. Cold hard sex. When I shoot my wad, I leave the room. Find them, follow them, finger them, fuck them, forget them.”
John Hurt is ingenious as Old Man Peanut, the cause of most of the humour. When asked during the opening few scenes how Rosemary his dog is, Peanut replies “Ask her,” proceeding to then answer everything the dog is asked, giving her tourettes. His re-telling of the Samson and Delilah story is told with wonderful comic genius: “He couldn’t even pick up his fucking tooth brush.”
Colin’s four friends entirely lack sympathy, telling him “Shit happens. Deal with it. The strong one will inherit the earth – not the fucking weak.” They simply want life back to normal. As Colin deliberates on what to do, his four friends’ lively banter keeps the film alive. Archie recalls Colin’s dream to unanimous laughter: ”He’s in a phone box, only it’s not a phone box, it’s her cunt and it has got teeth, no, let’s get this right, dentures. The cunt has got dentures.”
Flash back scenes between Colin and Liz when she tells him she has met someone else are not emotionally convincing but when he tells the gang that he hit her so hard “her head bounced off the door frame,” their reaction is entirely in keeping with their characters – they all congratulate him.
Winstone as the hapless love forlorn gangster is comical in itself, walking along the pavements distraught in search of Liz, he looks more like The Hulk and feeling sorry for himself inexplicably resembles Bagpuss.
As the clock ticks and he remains undecided on what to do, his friends start to lose patience firing Mallets Mallet taunts at Lover Boy: “Upstairs, downstairs….Round the back,” until Colin finally announces he would like time alone with his “victim” and is reminded: “You kill him quick and you are a cunt.”
By himself Colin makes a surprisingly polite gangster saying “Thank you” when the terrified young lover does a
s hhe asks. Still unable to enact his revenge, Colin is more bitter at what he has lost than angry at who caused this loss: “Love is give and take – I gave and you took.”
Despite its short running-time, 44 inch Chest is overly long and should have been cut when the gang played heads or tails to decide whether to let their prisoner go.
The quick-fire banter of Colin’s crew make the film and the ridiculous high frequency of expletives creates humour: “You fucked his fucking wife, you fucking wife fucker.”
44 Inch Chest would make the perfect stage play and if nearly 30 minutes of dream sequences were lopped from its running time, it could have been a 5 star performance.
**
Special Features:
* Commentary with Director Malcolm Venville
* Behind the Scenes
* Epilogues
* Interview with Malcolm Venville
* Trailer
