The dangerously quirky and talented sibling duo, Ethan and Joel Coen, have teamed up with One Fine Day director, Michael Hoffman, for a remake of the 1966 Michael Cain caper-classic, Gambit.
The Coen Brother are famous for their strict working regime of directing everything they pen down, and so it’s a surprise to see them hand over a script to another director. Despite that, one can be almost certain that anything the brothers touch turns to gold.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case in their latest undertaking. But that’s OK.
The film opens up with the introduction of Harry Deane (Firth); an art-curator with the meanest boss in the world. Working for egotistical media tycoon, Lionel Shahbandar (Rickman), is no picnic and with the help of his elderly side-kick and partner-in-crime, Major Wingate (Courtenay) – a counterfeiter, renowned for his oil-painting forging skills – Harry cooks up a plan of revenge.
The scheme is simple; pull a fast one on the boss by selling him a forged version of Monet’s ‘Haystacks at Dusk’.
However, before they can set the wheels in motion, Harry and Major need to recruit the chicken-plucking, Texan rodeo-gal, PJ Puznowski (Diaz), whose ancestors are said to have had been embroiled in the real painting’s disappearance.
The entire foundation of the plot is presented to the viewers and the storyline then follows the carefully planned details of the scheme right from the start. Strange? Perhaps. Except, nothing in Gambit is as it seems, and everything laid out before you in the beginning is part of a much bigger picture.
Much like the Pink Panther, the film is easy and light-hearted, with plenty of thrills and jokes to keep things moving along smoothly. The Coen Brothers’ touch of creating unique characters and plot development is at the forefront throughout the entire film and although it’s not their best work, it still makes for a gratifying encounter.
Gambit‘s weaknesses come in the overuse of nose punches and unnecessary fart jokes, but, before the script quickly pulls the plot back in and the story’s gets its groove back on track.
Rickman’s domineering snarls are entertaining. However, he does go a little overboard with articulating his every word and after a while, the ‘steaming turd’ insults get a little tiresome. As chirpy Texan ‘yehaaw’ gal-pal, Diaz is charming and although her southern drawl doesn’t come all that naturally, she deserves credit for giving it a go. Firth, on the other hand, is downright hilarious; the well-spoken Brit gets in touch with his comedic roots and delivers an excellent performance.
Taken as a whole, Gambit is fun, breezy and entertaining. Not the best con-comedy out there, but with plenty of charm nonetheless.
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