Review by Tom Roberts
Stars Robert Cavanah, Danny Dyer, Billy Boyd, Gemma Chan, Hilary Hamilton, Barbara Nedeljakova,
Scarlett Alice Johnson, Wil Johnson, Susie Amy, Corey Johnson | Written by Jon Kirby & Robert Cavanah
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 86 minutes | Directed by Robert Cavanah
The dawn of the internet brought along with it some salacious and some very nasty shit. Porn has thrived online, where if you go looking for it you're sure to find some very unsavoury content. Pimp delves into the Soho sex scene, but rather than giving me with an insightful view of the industry it has left my mind scarred for life with imagery beyond anything on the net: Danny Dyer on all fours with a fetish ball-gag in mouth.
Rent-a-Mockney Dyer braves new acting territory, this time playing a porn-Baron, who scowls "cunt" a lot. Stanley as he's known, employs a pimp (Cavanah) to run his empire of prostitutes and a porno production studio. For some reason, Woody the pimp agrees to be the followed by a documentary crew for a week. The film is shot on shakycam as we follow Woody venturing round Soho going about his shady business. The filmmakers also interview those involved with the gang, leading to some painfully cringeworthy moments, with Dyer in particular, sitting behind his office desk pumping coins into a 'Cunt Tin' while spouting pearls of wisdom such as: "Hate the sin [pornography], not the sinner [perverts who watch it]". Take David Brent out of Slough, sling him into central London with a leopard print dressing gown, make him a detestable prick rather than a naive buffoon and there you have Stanley.
The Office was subtle, though. For one, you forgot about the camera crew, which constantly feels contrived here, as gangs beat the shit out of each other all on tape, before toddling off. Secondly, David Brent was painful to watch, but his idiocy was impossible to take your eyes away from. At the beginning of Pimp, some onscreen titles announce that some footage in the film was actually shot in Soho, of real-life sex industry goings-on. The film attempts to be a raw and honest portrayal of the seedy, violent underbelly of London, and then you have the laughably bad Dyer as the lead poncing around throwing obscenities about like unwanted baby food.
Pimp is a short film, thankfully. And while the acting isn't abysmal, nor the story endlessly dull, it is a missed opportunity at delving into a world behind closed doors and greyed out shop windows, and another completely unredeeming entry in Dyer's canon.
EXTRAS ★★ A making-of featurette, deleted scenes and a music video.