Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall,
Briain Gleeson, Sinead Cusack, Ciaran Hinds
Written & produced by John Boorman
Certification UK 18 | Ireland 15A
Runtime 103 minutes
Directed by John Boorman
John Boorman’s latest film is an oddball take on the nature v nurture debate. It's billed as a black comedy but, in truth, it’s neither particularly dark nor particularly funny but it does raise an interesting issue or two on the quality of life and the difference that a single choice can make. Liam O’Leary (Brendan Gleeson) is a very successful property developer thanks to his grip on the booming Irish market. He's got that Celtic Tiger by the tail and he's not letting go, however much it tries to work loose or bite. And bite it most certainly does — just not in the way Liam had ever anticipated.
His success brings a high profile and the high profile brings unwanted attention in the form of an unnamed double. If Liam is a ‘have’, then the double — a homeless Yorkshireman — is a definite ‘have not’ but with aspirations to change that considerably and he systematically sets out to steal Liam’s life. Liam is initially shocked and his gut instinct says fight. However, as his life falls apart around him, he starts to experience something of a conversion. His marriage to Jane (Kim Cattrall, likeable even as her accent wanders from Dublin to Wales) is frosty, his relationship with his son Connor (Gleeson’s own son, Briain) is faltering and his business is built on debt. Would it just be easier to walk away and leave it all to this double?
There are some interesting questions raised in this enjoyable tale of Liam and his, er, mid-lives crisis. Whether Boorman delves deeply enough to come up with anything other than truisms and sweeping generalisations is debatable though. Gleeson is excellent but then, hey, you knew that because it’s Brendan Gleeso, and the support work — particularly Ciaran Hinds as an old schoolfriend-turned-priest — is also top drawer. But, for all the twist the façade element brings, there’s nothing particularly enlightening here. The explanation of the double is obvious and, while Boorman’s screenplay raises some questions about identity, it doesn’t bring any new perspective to the issue. Entertaining then but lacking the wisdom it clearly believes it possesses.