Heroes and Villains

A group of London lads launch a honey trap agency, seeking to expose unfaithful partners by sending in seductive escorts armed with secret cameras. It’s an instantly engaging premise, but ‘Heroes and Villains’ does staggeringly little to exploit this comic opportunity. Rather than focusing on the set-ups, it busies itself with dull hero Jack (painfully evident newcomer David Raymond) and his attempts to woo posh totty Hannah (Jenna Harrison, better), while his friends play nasty frat-boy tricks on each other. Eventually, we’re informed that Jack has been ignoring the moral downside of his business and must learn the error of his ways, but there’s no character arc to speak of. There are one or two laddish laughs, but most attempted comedy is excruciating thanks to poor acting, timing and dialogue. Things perk up a bit when Jenny Agutter enters as Jack’s mother, but it’s all too brief. With a rewrite, half a new cast and a disciplined re-shoot, this could have something. As it is, it’s destined to go the way of many a poorly-judged, underfunded Brit flick: nowhere fast.