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Scorched (2002)

Director: Gavin Grazer

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From Time Out London

Three clerks at a small-town bank separately plot to rob their employer on the same day, unbeknowst to each other. It’s a reasonable pitch for a crime comedy, yet despite the well-known cast (Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone, John Cleese) this has taken several years to crawl on to UK screens. It doesn’t take long to work out why. Engaging characters such as Paulo Costanzo’s smart, bored bank teller (who’s goaded into ‘borrowing’ $250,000 for a Vegas gambling spree) are all but crowded out by pointless subplots and characters. Rachael Leigh Cook is annoyingly mannered as an exaggerated tomboy scheming half-hearted revenge against get-rich-quick guru Cleese, whose nasty nature is only occasionally funny (he eats little girls, not cookies, he explains to a terrified Brownie selling biscuits at his front gate). When all three plots begin to overlap, this becomes an enjoyable, well-choreographed comedy: it’s clear that with a character cull and some sharp editing, it could have been a decent farce. As it is, it’s a sporadically amusing oddity better suited to the small screen.

Author: AS 2005-12-06 11:34:21

Time Out London Issue 1842: December 7-14 2005