2/5
(18+) UK. Brenda Blethyn, Tamer Hassan, Danny Dyer, 50 Cent
When illness causes his mother (Blethyn) to need a wheelchair, doting con Nick Kane (Hassan) goes straight, deciding to open a travel agency with a sizeable loan from sinister gangster Mr Thigo (50 Cent). But when the credit crunch bites, Mr Thigo calls in his loan and gives Nick 24 hours to pay – or his mum gets it. With best mate Bing (Dyer) in tow, Nick first tries to raise the necessary readies legally, but soon slips back into his old ways of intimidation and violence.
Partly financed by footballers Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole, this often cringingly performed crime caper is not quite as inauspicious a producing debut as one might have expected. Granted, its message is contradictory: on one hand it drums home the old ‘crime doesn’t pay’ adage, while on the other it demonstrates the opposite – but its lighthearted, comic tone proves relatively genial. And Blethyn’s a right laugh as the gaga mum with more gumption than first meets the eye.
