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Three And Out (2007)

Director: Jonathan Gershfield

Time Out rating

Average user rating

28 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Having one passenger fall under his train makes distracted driver Paul Callow (Mackenzie Crook) look unfortunate, but by the second accident in under a month he starts to appear distinctly careless. Paul is played by the fish-eyed, sad-sack actor Mackenzie Crook, so he already looks miserable, but he cheers up considerably when work colleague, Ash (Rhashan Stone) informs him of the hush-hush ‘three and out’ rule – three deaths in one month and you get paid off. So, impecunious, aspirant writer Paul hatches a plan to scour London for a volunteer suicide and chances upon – as you do – Colm Meaney’s desperate Tommy who is about to jump off Holborn Viaduct…

It was only a matter of time before ‘The Office’ star Crook was offered a lead in a Brit-com; but first-time director Jonathan Gershfield has a hard time harnessing his talents. In ‘Three and Out’s’ implausible, over-familiar and poorly written (by Steve Lewis and Tony Owen) early scenes, he offers a low-key presence – somewhere between hapless innocent, frightened rabbit and presumptuous fool. But things start to improve – slightly – as the movie develops into a more orthodox buddy movie and he’s shouldered out of the way by Meaney’s bolshier turn as repentant carouser, Tommy.

There are minor shades of ‘Withnail & I’ – as the mismatched pair head to the Lake District in a vintage Merc to facilitate Tommy’s dying wish to touch base with spikey, abandoned ex, Rosemary (Imelda Staunton) and daughter, Frankie (Gemma Arterton) – but it’s too gauche, too derivative and merely sporadically amusing.

Author: Wally Hammond 2008-04-22 10:14:20

Time Out London Issue 1966 April 24-30, 2008

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User reviews of this film

NIck said...

Posted on Apr 30 2008 23:28 Well I decided to give this film a chance and go see it,
despite checking some poor reviews here. All I can say is the negative reviews are valid. I l walked out towards the end. I know it's down to personal taste but trust me when I say this film is diabolical. I won't go into detail because I could go on for ever, I can only assume the people who leave the good reviews are the same kind of people who go and by an album like 'crazy frog' etc and reckon it's great music. But go see it and make up your
own mind, Best advice I can give is, if you feel like walking out after half an hour - do it - it doesent get better , so don't waste anymore of your time. I gave it an hour and 15 mins and couldent bare it any longer even though it was near the end - I wasent even curious to know the outcome.

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TingTong said...

Posted on Apr 30 2008 11:22 Actually I really enjoyed it - it's a great British comedy. The whole suicide theme is not the main one - it's funny and touching - a real refreshing break from all that over polished Hollywood claptrap. I enjoyed it.

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dank said...

Posted on Apr 30 2008 01:27 total cool ya?

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Morgan said...

Posted on Apr 29 2008 07:39 This was a good movie, Jonathan Gershfield you have no taste

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Kathleen said...

Posted on Apr 28 2008 23:44 Can't believe the poor reviews on this - yes a bit of a shakey start but turned out to be a real surprise and very funny and moving all rolled into one - very clever. Go see it and don't be put off by the first 20 mins or so - or the reviews come to that.

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Ollie said...

Posted on Apr 28 2008 18:57 Great film....really funny
loved it - highly recommend it!

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mark pengelly said...

Posted on Apr 28 2008 13:28 I thought this british black comedy very funny and what a great story and an excellent ending well done British comedy

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tash said...

Posted on Apr 27 2008 00:02 saw the film and it is excellent and handles the sensitive subjects very well. funny and heartwarming.

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Tony said so said...

Posted on Apr 25 2008 15:45 What a load of garbage. No action, no comedy (first five minutes was ok), no decent story line. Just a load of talking between some very dull actors in this very poor scripted film. I would have walked out 20-25 minutes in, but I wasn't wasting the fiver I paid to get in. Unbelieveable. Who wrote all these brilliant reviews in the newspapers, are they living in cuckoo land or something?, get a grip it was crap, anyone will tell you this!!

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Apr 24 2008 19:48 i learnt something today if a london tube driver runs down three londoners like a tomato being sliced then he is retired away with a ten year lumpsome,
how much are we going to be paid for watching this dumbsome dull dribble by the dastardly bad makers
-almost like the tube fare evaders they need to be fined for this dreadful crime
do not bother with this -i fell asleep

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drifter said...

Posted on Apr 23 2008 17:20 So what if its inaccurate is this film a docu or a fiction comedy.

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Blondini said...

Posted on Apr 22 2008 12:40 Inaccurate, you are not allowed to drive a train for at least a month while you go through counselling after a "one under." any Train Op will tell you that, so obviously the writers never talked to any of us. Why LUL agreed to letting them film this rubbish baffles everyone down here.

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Moose said...

Posted on Apr 19 2008 18:00 CRAP

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