Dangerous Parking

You can hardly accuse ‘Sliding Doors’ and ‘Johnny English’ director Peter Howitt of over-caution in tackling cancer victim Stuart Browne’s audacious novel as writer-producer-director and leading man. The saga of a filmmaker whose glittering career feeds his ego while drink, drugs and promiscuity take care of everything else, this hedonist’s progress also savours the redemptive power of love before an implacable tumour enters the fray.

Temptingly juicy material, but keeping it full-on from the get-go without losing the audience was always going to be a challenge, and, for all his pluck, Howitt’s limitations are exposed en route. In a central role crying out for  Richard E Grant or even Kenneth Branagh, Howitt’s capable enough at abrasive humour, but pathos and romantic ardour rather elude his performance. Directorial choices are a mixed bag too, excoriating medical scenes coming off rather better than the clunky, over-emphatic voiceover, and Saffron Burrows proves the feyest of muses. It’s rarely dull, but hardly the out-there masterpiece you suspect Howitt thought he was making.