44 Inch Chest (2009)

Too many fans seem to be blown away

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Ray Winstone stars as Colin Diamond a man who finds out that his wife has cheated and is leaving him for another man, which takes Colin and his gangster friends to kidnap his wife's lover and decide what revenge to take. This film intrigued me from the start as it slowly revealed the story bit by bit, Ray Winstone brilliantly plays Colin who's become a disillusioned shell of a man from the crushing news about his wife. The cast is stellar with Ian McShane simply oozing coolness throughout the film. For the majority of the film being in a dingy small room I felt the story had a lot to say about love, and at times especially a speech Colin says is better than many of the rom-coms about that you forget as soon as you've watched. There is also fantastic dark humour which could make this the ideal rom-com for the right couple.

Not what I was expecting, but all the more incredible for it. 44 Inch Chest is an examination of the male ego and the damage it can undergo. Luckily, it avoids all pretentiousness by being hilariously crass and smutty. It may come as a turnoff to some, but never has love and commitment been put into words with such passion and resonance as when Ray Winstone asks his wife's lover "Has she ever farted in front of you?" It's simple, but touching and brutal. Each of Winstone's friends embodies a different notch on the spectrum of masculinity. McShane is the love 'em and leave 'em guy, Hurt plays a fantastically foul and cantankerous black and white kind of guy. Each has endless quotable dialogue that may be full of expletives, butis modestly profound. A thinker and a talker, this is more stage play/psychological analysis than it is the cockney gangster revenge flick you might be expecting. A wonderful film that hits every target it takes aim at.

When I heard the plot of the story I expected lots of violence, but what I actually got was something better. Even though nothing really happens in the movie, the characters make it thoroughly entertaining. However, I may have a biased opinion because I love British movies and there complete over-use of the word "cunt". One man broken hearted by his cheating wife and his best friends kidnap her lover. I love how all the characters are so contrasting. We have the gay sophisticate and the mean old man who thinks he is a pervert and a sexual deviant. The loser older guy who still lives with his mom, and the younger tattooed guy in a suit. Even though the whole story consists of these five men in a house, it still captured my attention the entire time.

I, along with most viewers, really enjoyed the laugh-out-loud madness of SEXY BEAST, the previous Cockney gangster film starring Ray Winstone and written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto. When I read about this follow-up, it looked like the same team were ready to tackle a RESERVOIR DOGS style storyline. I was up for it, but it turns out the writers weren't.44 INCH CHEST has possibly the most boring and convoluted plot I can remember watching. It takes ages, and a lot of effort on the part of the actors, to get everyone together into a single setting, building tension with the question - will Ray torture and kill the guy strapped to a chair, the guy who's been conducting an affair with his wife? The film had everything going for it. Winstone in an emotional role, Ian McShane and John Hurt playing to type. Then what happens? It all falls apart. The interesting cast members are made to go and sit outside a door for the rest of the film's duration. It sounds like I'm kidding, but I'm not. So little then happens, the film is reduced to flashbacks and infuriating fantasy sequences that develop nothing of the story.Having watched this, I'm afraid to say it looks like SEXY BEAST was nothing more than a fluke and the writers one-hit wonders.