The Gigolos

This diligently played yet desperately meandering two-hander revolves around London’s surprisingly non-seedy male-escort scene and focuses specifically on the night-time travails of endearingly slimy ladies’-man Sacha (Sacha Tarter) and his bashful valet Trevor (Trevor Sather). The tables are turned when Sasha injures his foot on a job and Trevor is forced to cover for him. Sasha realises that his Mills & Boon-style suavity doesn’t quite cut the mustard any more and a jealous rivalry develops.

The shaky camerawork and naturalistic performances mark the film’s kinship with quasi-realist sitcoms like ‘The Office’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’. There’s also some ravishing imagery of central London at night, as well as a hint of Paul Schrader to the linking scenes in which Sacha drives to his next tryst – you half expect a Bernard Herrmann score to kick in. Yet, as drama, ‘The Gigolos’ is light on insight, and as comedy, it’s unfunny to the point of becoming tedious – leaving you to ponder how Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant would have spun this meaty set-up.