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The Business (2005)

Director: Nick Love

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From Time Out London

You’ve got to admire Nick Love’s chutzpah. Following the south London macho swagger of ‘Goodbye Charlie Bright’ and the south London macho swagger of ‘The Football Factory’, he’s now transferred that same, er, macho swagger to Spain’s Costa Del Crime in the mid-’80s – home of sea, sand and (oh yes) south London gangsters living large on the profits of drug trafficking. Perennial cheeky chappie Danny Dyer is back for a third time too as Frankie, young apprentice to charming Charlie (Tamer Hassan), a criminal lothario on the up-and-up who decides to defy a pliant local mayor’s acceptance of cannabis importing over cocaine smuggling. It’s a classic – hackneyed? – tale of a gangster’s speedy rise followed by his even speedier, coke-fuelled downfall. But ‘Goodfellas’ it ain’t – more like a Day-Glo, budget version of De Palma’s ‘Scarface’. Love papers over a by-numbers plot and cartoon acting with ample voiceover, back-to-back ’80s music and yards of casual clobber (Fila, Sergio Tacchini). Oh, the memories for the over-thirty fives (and under-forties)! A nostalgia trip through and through.

Author: DC 2005-08-30 11:57:04

Time Out London Issue 1828: August 31-September 7 2005