Good People (2014)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I rented this movie out, because it reminded me of the plot of UK low budget classic Shallow Grave. That's where the similarity ends, since Shallow Grave was actually good, this movie was slow to begin, slow in the middle, slow in the build up to the predictable somewhat dramatic ending.I feel as though the makers of this movie couldn't decide what it was. Was it a drama? A thriller? I've been noticing this more and more as the years go on, one of the reasons movies made by committee usually suck. Most of the truly great films were made because one Great Man made them great.The only positive in it, is that Kate Hudson is a fine actress and great to look at. I liked how she intoned the line "Guns are for pussies"; I'm inclined to agree. It's a pity this movie is for insomniacs and not fans of faster paced compelling thrillers. Tom Wilkinson was better as the genereic cop stuck with the task of solving what passed as the mystery element in this film, both he and Hudson was far better than Franco, who after a great early career, seems happy to get paid well, phoning in his performances. I thought he was thoroughly disinterested in the Planet of the Apes movie. 5/10

Good People is not a film to be taken too serious or to have high expectations. The film didn't manage to have a wide US release date in theaters but then it managed to make its rounds in foreign countries, and limited release revenues. The film starts out well, and starts to pick up when the main plot is put in place- the couple of Tom and Anne (James Franco & Kate Hudson) discover their tenant renting their basement has died, and they eventually discover large sums of cash. At this point, we start to realize how the film will go and turn out, but howeever within this there lies many possibilities which the film could have taken, though it seemed to struggle down towards the end.Good People is a fun light hearted crime thriller, and includes several twists and turns along the way. For a film such as this, its serves it purpose, it could have been better with a better plot, more developed characters, a better and less predictable ending, but for what it was it was entertaining for a solid run time film. What makes the film worth watching is the wonderful scenery and the chemistry between James Franco and Kate Hudson, there are also several scenes of unintentionally comedy towards the last 30 or so minutes which are worth while.

Good People is actually a pretty good tense thriller and is nowhere near as bad as some people are making it out to be. Is it pretty predictable at times? Yes. Has it been done before? Yes. That doesn't make it a bad film though.It's main idea is along the same lines as the excellent Shallow Grave, so while it's definitely not an original story it still makes for a decent film in it's own right. There are differences between the two films with the main one being the desperation the main couple, Anna & Tom, find themselves in regarding money. They are struggling to make ends meet and are on the verge of being evicted...Shallow Grave didn't have these elements, so it's the same same box but with different wrapping.The film is pretty slow going at times but it doesn't ever feel boring and even through these moments you're still getting to know about the different characters so while it gets slow at times, the story still develops. It does pick up as it goes on though, so it's not as if it doesn't ever get going, and there is a good amount of tension and suspense throughout to make up for those slower instances.The main characters - on the whole - were well written, but one thing that annoyed me about Anna & Tom was that they had all of this financial trouble yet they were desperate to have a baby. Priorities people! They were also very naive with regards to the money by thinking that they were safe and that no one would be looking for it especially considering the background of their tenant. In saying that though, that is where the story shows how desperation makes them blind to reality. I mean what would YOU do if you were in the same situation and came across 1000s of pounds? The vicious criminal boss Jack Witkowski was played excellently by Sam Spruell who brought a real believability to that character as someone you definitely did not want to upset/double-cross.All in all, Good People isn't a fantastic film, but it's definitely worth a watch.

I saw this movie 4 years ago when it was called Ca$h, but that was a comedy and this was a thriller, still it's amazing just how similar the two films are. Good People and Ca$h are so much alike, that I don't know how the producers of this film didn't get sued! Good People takes place in London and focuses on another young couple down on their luck. They're about to lose everything when their downstairs tenet dies and they find a bag of cash in the ceiling. Much like the couple in Ca$h, they face the dilemma of keeping the money or turning it into the police. Of course they have to keep the money for there to be a film, but shortly after, the rightful owners show up and want their cash, leaving the couple on the run. James Franco and Kate Hudson play the young couple and to my surprise, despite their very different styles, they had great chemistry, but that's really all this film had. It's very hard to review a film that is so similar to another, because I find myself unimpressed by the second film and wonder, if I hadn't seen the first, would I have enjoyed the second? As far as thrillers go, it wasn't much different or better than you'd expect it to be, despite the big names in the cast. Ultimately, Good People isn't a bad film, but I preferred the story in a more comedic form with Sean Bean playing a foul mouthed, wise cracking gangster. If you're a fan of any of the cast members, you should see this film, because it definitely wasn't boring, but it really wasn't anything special.