Director Shane Meadows switches from gritty to an absurd comedy drama which fails to take off.
Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) is a small time criminal who catches his ex girlfriend and the mother of his daughter Shirley (Shirley Henderson) being proposed on the television show Vanessa by her new boyfriend Dek (Rhys Ifans.) She turns him down.
This gives Jimmy and opportunity to get down from Scotland to Nottingham to win back Shirley.
Jimmy though is being pursued by a gang that he double crossed back in Scotland. Although Jimmy is confident of winning back Shirley as Dek is a lovable weed, his daughter Marlene is not so easy and she has developed a bond with Dek.
Meadows aimed to make a quirky spaghetti western set in the Midlands. Ricky Tomlinson plays the country and western obsessed brother in law of Jimmy.
It does not work as a modern day western and it does not fly as a comedy. Ifans character has heart but is too much of a wimp which unbalances the film. The character of Jimmy has no charm and the script forgets that Shirley is living in Dek's house. If she takes back Jimmy, she potentially ends up homeless. You might even come to assume that Shirley is a bit dim.
Jimmy (Robert Carlyle) is a small time criminal who catches his ex girlfriend and the mother of his daughter Shirley (Shirley Henderson) being proposed on the television show Vanessa by her new boyfriend Dek (Rhys Ifans.) She turns him down.
This gives Jimmy and opportunity to get down from Scotland to Nottingham to win back Shirley.
Jimmy though is being pursued by a gang that he double crossed back in Scotland. Although Jimmy is confident of winning back Shirley as Dek is a lovable weed, his daughter Marlene is not so easy and she has developed a bond with Dek.
Meadows aimed to make a quirky spaghetti western set in the Midlands. Ricky Tomlinson plays the country and western obsessed brother in law of Jimmy.
It does not work as a modern day western and it does not fly as a comedy. Ifans character has heart but is too much of a wimp which unbalances the film. The character of Jimmy has no charm and the script forgets that Shirley is living in Dek's house. If she takes back Jimmy, she potentially ends up homeless. You might even come to assume that Shirley is a bit dim.