Ordinary Decent Criminal (2000)

Who payed the critics

Fantastic!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

"Ordinary Decent Criminal" is sort of based on the exploits of Martin Cahill, already the subject of John Boorman's 1998 film "The General". Cahill had a rough upbringing in a slum area and graduated from petty crime to armed robbery with honours. He justified his criminal career by pointing out his poor background at every opportunity. This is a common excuse for criminals that conveniently overlooks the thousands of slum-dwellers who don't turn to robbing post offices and selling guns in order to make ends meet. Cahill made fools of the police and local authorities, not to mention the IRA, which earned him a sort of "Folk Hero" status as well as making him many enemies. However, he was basically an amoral, self-serving thief.My primary problem with "ODC" is that the protagonist is made out to be a lovable Irish rogue. Kevin Spacey does a good job portraying Michael Lynch with a blend of oily charm and quiet menace, but the character is too amoral and selfish to be seen as any sort of hero, even an anti-hero. The film is well shot and well acted by a fine cast, but what lets it down is the script. Writer Gerard Stembridge can't make up his mind; is he writing an Irish "Lock Stock" or a grittier treatment of Martin Cahill's thieving career? That's the problem when a writer bases his central character on a real person. It's also unfortunate that "ODC" followed the cinema release of John Boorman's "The General", which was a more accurate portrayal of Martin Cahill's story. Cahill was a cunning thief who knew the value of good publicity, so it's not surprising that his exploits got the movie treatment.What IS surprising is that a studio was prepared to take Cahill's story and give it a happy Hollywood-style ending. Kevin Spacey's charismatic-twinkly-bigamist-thief Michael Lynch gets to ride off into anonymity on his motorcycle in "ODC". In the real world, Martin Cahill was executed by the IRA, just to prove that no-one makes fools of an out-dated, sectarian and corrupt para-military organisation and gets away with it. The real Cahill would never have walked away from his notoriety because it bolstered his "Man of The People" self-image. Having Michael Lynch give up everything to avoid death in "ODC" is a cop-out ending to a weak and shallow movie.

I was really looking forward to watching this film. It had all the ingredients of a great tongue in cheeker, but it just didn't come together AT ALL. Kevin Spacey's accent was tolerable except that sometimes he forgot to use it and I would rather NOT have had to listen to Linda Fiorentino's pale attempt. She and Helen Baxendale were totally lacking in charm and personality, thankfully their screen kids had loads, so you could find at least some members of his 2 families endearing. You could have strained spaghetti with the plot and I'm sure that the script was written by some adolescent schoolboy in a high school English competition. That said, when I wasn't cringing, I was smirking so it wasn't a totally wasted 90 minutes. I did find the superimposing of Kevin's face on the painting very clever and quite funny. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh but I was expecting a bit of quality viewing and it just never came.

Very amusing crime comedy with Kevin Spacey as the star of the show. We already knew that Spacey is capable of playing any role and also in this movie he truly delivers. Kevin Spacey is Michael Lynch, an ordinary decent criminal who loves playing some games with the cops. I think you can compare him to Thomas Crown (performed by Steve McQueen in 1968 and by Pierce Brosnan in the remake 31 years later). A criminal, a gentleman and womaniser in one person.Kevin Spacey was excellently casted as the male lead. Furthermore we see Linda Fiorentino as Lynch's wife, Peter Mullan ("My Name Is Joe") as Spacey's right hand and a very small part for Colin Farrell. The story is very well written and it contains a lot of twist. A must see for a Saturday night. Not a deep or difficult story, just fine Saturday night entertainment.Recommendable! 7,5/10

ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL has to be one of the more tongue-in-cheek titles Hollywood has devised for a story apparently based on a real life infamous Irish gangster Martin Cahill whose claim to fame was robbing banks and getting away with it while posing as a preceptor of family values! Yet in this reincarnation the plot is suffused with comedy and typical capers and served up by a fine cast on a shaky platform.Michael Lynch (Kevin Spacey, always terrific to watch even in uneven films) is a 'gentleman robber', married to two sisters (Linda Fiorentino and Helen Baxendale) whose latest criminal diversion involves the theft of a Caravaggio painting. How he utilizes his cohorts and evades the police headed by Noel Quigley (the extraordinarily gifted actor Stephen Dillane who played Stephen Woolf in 'The Hours'). The cast is good and makes the best of a confusing arc of storyline written by Gerard Stembridge. Director Thaddeus O'Sullivan keeps things moving along but slides into some boring and non-additive variances from the plot and character development that threaten to grind down the film. Tack on a corny ending not in keeping with the real character on whose life the story is based and the recipe for lack of success in the theaters is obvious.But keep the expectations low and this film will entertain. Sad that for its distribution in the USA the cover of the DVD lists Colin Farrell as one of the stars (Spacey, Fiorentino, Farrell) which says a lot about PR grossness: Farrell is a VERY minor extra here and should any other actor be listed in top billing it is Stephen Dillane! Not a great heist film but it's always good to see more of Spacey. Grady Harp