After the dreadful Solo: A Star Wars Story and the even more dreadful Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, I decided to go with another 2018 movie, Blue Iguana, a movie I knew absolutely nothing about other than it having Sam Rockwell and its IMDb score being lower than the previously mentioned movies. And guess what, it was better than both.
Eddie (Sam Rockwell) and Paul (Ben Schwartz), two American petty criminals on parole, are recruited by British lawyer Kathrine Rookwood (Phoebe Fox) for a big job in London involving a mysterious package. Things go terribly wrong and the two Americans are caught up in a mess involving a mob boss (Peter Polycarpou), a mama's boy (Peter Ferdinando) and a princess (Frances Barber).
Plot-wise, there's nothing special about Blue Iguana. It's a pretty basic, simple heist story that becomes more and more implausible as it develops --if you give this a try, you'll end up wondering what the hell happened as nothing makes sense. There's also a romantic subplot that adds absolutely nothing to the film.
The characters are the film's strongest suit either. They are thin, lack development and aren't given any background story. But at the same time, they all are quirky and memorable with their foibles and fixations, and they are quite amusing.
The credits, however, do not belong to director and writer Hadi Hajaig, but to the cast. It's indeed the actors that make the characters interesting and memorable. Sam Rockwell gives another of his underappreciated performances as Eddie, a skilled, hardass criminal, amusing with his humorous attempt at doing a cockney accent and delighting with his dancing skills. Yes, he dances and he rocks. Ben Schwartz is quite funny as Paul, Eddie's oafishness partner in crime, and his chemistry with Rockwell is brilliant. Peter Ferdinando is pretty awesome too as the mama's boy. It's Phoebe Fox though that absolutely steals the show as the geeky nerdy lawyer who is constantly eating and basically bosses around most of the men in the film.
The soundtrack, which is filled with songs from the 80s that aren't often used in films, is great too. Unfortunately, these few elements alone aren't enough and Blue Iguana ends up being just an okay film. The thing is that the comedy rarely works, the reason being that the writer was unable to make the best out of the subject matter. Someone else, someone like Martin McDonagh, would have made a hell of a difference.
Eddie (Sam Rockwell) and Paul (Ben Schwartz), two American petty criminals on parole, are recruited by British lawyer Kathrine Rookwood (Phoebe Fox) for a big job in London involving a mysterious package. Things go terribly wrong and the two Americans are caught up in a mess involving a mob boss (Peter Polycarpou), a mama's boy (Peter Ferdinando) and a princess (Frances Barber).
Plot-wise, there's nothing special about Blue Iguana. It's a pretty basic, simple heist story that becomes more and more implausible as it develops --if you give this a try, you'll end up wondering what the hell happened as nothing makes sense. There's also a romantic subplot that adds absolutely nothing to the film.
The characters are the film's strongest suit either. They are thin, lack development and aren't given any background story. But at the same time, they all are quirky and memorable with their foibles and fixations, and they are quite amusing.
The credits, however, do not belong to director and writer Hadi Hajaig, but to the cast. It's indeed the actors that make the characters interesting and memorable. Sam Rockwell gives another of his underappreciated performances as Eddie, a skilled, hardass criminal, amusing with his humorous attempt at doing a cockney accent and delighting with his dancing skills. Yes, he dances and he rocks. Ben Schwartz is quite funny as Paul, Eddie's oafishness partner in crime, and his chemistry with Rockwell is brilliant. Peter Ferdinando is pretty awesome too as the mama's boy. It's Phoebe Fox though that absolutely steals the show as the geeky nerdy lawyer who is constantly eating and basically bosses around most of the men in the film.
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| Screen Media Films |
The soundtrack, which is filled with songs from the 80s that aren't often used in films, is great too. Unfortunately, these few elements alone aren't enough and Blue Iguana ends up being just an okay film. The thing is that the comedy rarely works, the reason being that the writer was unable to make the best out of the subject matter. Someone else, someone like Martin McDonagh, would have made a hell of a difference.
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