Good People

Tom Wright (James Franco) and his wife Anna (Kate Hudson) are living in London. He has come over to fix up his gran mothers place, inherited after she passed away. She is a teacher and has decided to make a new start after the loss of a child back home. They both are seeing their dreams crumble as they have debts and cant keep above water. When their lodger dies from a drug overdose they feel their luck can only get worse. That is until they find a stash of cash, hidden in the ceiling and without an owner. As they spend the cash however, new faces appear to take it back and these people are not to be messed with.

America and European film makers make London into a world of beautiful buildings, poor urban developments and mockney gangster. We have seen crime in London before and we know that their is no honor among anyone but I have to say this is a record. The film was made as a way for a European production house to get funding and it uses two very well known faces. It is a record because I have never seen such talent used do badly. They look bored and almost in a coma. The film is a way for them to waste some time, sleeping into a scene and then running around a little. If we had fixed on something then it could have worked but it is a mess of ideas. In the end, we are left thinking as to why we wasted this time and did not watch something else. Paint dry for instance.

This film is like the example of the film making of a dullard British man named Guy Richie (A lord and very rich land owner that puts on an accent to 'slum it'.). London is not filled with 'Wrong uns', looking to kill and maim nor is it filled with horrid double crossing. It is filled with people trying to make it in a world that is cold and cruel, often losing everything as a circumstance. This means that one side of the film works, that is the life of Tom and Anna. They are crushed by the economic hardships. This also means that the other side is awful. The gangsters are silly and act like they are unstable. This is for effect I understand but this psychotic trend is so unreal as to be pointless and unappealing. Knowing inner London Crims a bit, they try to keep it inhouse. They do not go around in public shooting and blood letting. To much heat and too much police interference. The other point of the film is that it is a very droll remake of that Danny Boyle masterpiece, Shallow Grave. This problem of a terrible written film is over blown by tired direction. Lame in its construction, paced poorly and it is so dark in tones that on a screen it becomes grey. This is a terrible transfer and one that should have been better. I also have to comment on the lack of extras. One documentary is weak and the doc is so boring as to make you want to switch it off and put on Shallow Grave. In fact that is an idea, watch Shallow Grave....