Shooting Fish

The slang title refers to the ease with which mugs are found for scams. Dylan (Futterman) is a brash American tethered by friendship and history to Jez (Townsend), a gifted but unsophisticated inventor. The film begins with an attempt at the big time - a con involving voice-recognition computers and City investors - before introducing us to Jez and Dylan's home, an Aladdin's cave inside a large gasometer in the London suburbs. Cash-strapped trainee doctor Georgie (Beckinsale) is lured to work for the boys. Though she soon susses their game, she stays on board for a complicated mixture of motives involving her Down's Syndrome brother and her growing affection for the lads. The straggly plot - they're saving to buy a country house - has an Ealing-esque energy, but the portrayal of Englishness seems ersatz and overly accommodating to the international audience. A succession of cameos provides light relief, and the film's saved by the amiable performances of Futterman, Beckinsale and, especially, Townsend.