Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Updates:

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl (1989)

Director: Bernard Rose

Average user rating

No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

It's ironic that each scene seems inspired by movies, rather than life, when the film purports to show wartime England as it was. This cine-literacy may not be writer David Yallop's fault, but the script is hackneyed too, despite the story's (factually-based) potential. In 1944, an American GI (Sutherland) and a local showgirl (Lloyd) met in a Hammersmith café; a week later they were arrested for murder. Nobody ever knew the reason for their crime spree, and Yallop, none too originally, attributes their deeds to a naive faith in movie myth born of economic and cultural deprivation. The film skims the surface of its themes, and it's all poorly executed. Lloyd, like a 12- rather than 18-year-old, offers further evidence of her shortcomings, and Sutherland has no real part to play. Worse still is the 'direction'. Scenes go on far too long; the symbolism is thumpingly obvious; lighting, sets and dodgy London topography all evoke a video-neverworld.

Author: GA 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide