ssstracener-849-976835 It uses a lot of puns; the hotel 'major' reference will leave you rolling. This movie doesn't beat you over the head with unrealistic comedy, nor does it over-explain the jokes, some of the humor is quite subtle. The younger crowd who love Seth Rogan-type movies will not 'get' this movie. Yet, Gambit is well written, and is a fun romp of witty entertainment. Alan Rickman (rip) was great as well as all the cast. BTW - they actually do have dog-riding cowmonkeys in Texas rodeos:).

studioAT Gambit is one of those films where you look at the cast list and feel you should like it a lot more than you actually do. I mean you have Colin Firth (fresh from The Kings Speech at the time) Cameron Diaz and the dearly missed Alan Rickman. Where can you go wrong? The answer is by creating a mildly amusing (and sometimes very amusing) sort of Pink Panther-esque farce that at some points tries to be too adult and then at other moments too sentimental. As for Diaz's accent, well you'll either love it or hate it.There are some lovely moments of farce but they are bookended by dull moments and too much plotting and not enough doing. The eventual con is carried out in moments, leaving you thinking what was the point of the rest of it. And it's only a very short film to start with.Alan Rickman though shines in his role. Firth and Diaz run around like headless chickens and he exudes more of a laugh from the audience just by raising an eyebrow. A legend.Overall this is a good example of top stars doing their best with a weak script (by the Coen Brothers no less).

phoenix 2 Harry is an expert in art and he also wants to get back to his boss for mal treating him. So he hires an American woman to pretend that she owns a lost painting. On paper the movie had everything one movie needs in order to be successful, funny and entertaining. However, apart from some sparks of brilliant humour, the movie was dreadfully. First of all, the pace was so messed up, that one time we are speeding up, the next we are stuck into a boring scene for more than ten minutes. Then, it was the music and the whole atmosphere that can be only compared to the old movies, but not as much for the quality. The acting wasn't good, the story wasn't presented as it should be, in other words it was boring, up until the last three minutes when it finally got interesting. So 2 out of 10.

ianlouisiana The sort of crime/comedy capers that starred big names in psychedelic colours and absolutely up to the minute fashions quickly palled only to be briefly resuscitated by Mr P.Bogdanovich in the sublime "What's up,Doc?"which also echoed much earlier works by the great Hollywood directors. Unfortunately,the evidence here is that the Coen Bros do not have the grasp of this broad humour in contrast to their recognised skill with "funny" that sometimes isn't "funny" at all but instead rather "disturbing". So "Gambit" is either a painfully unfunny satire or a wildly over- acted and painfully unfunny "hommage" to the briefly popular international super - productions loaded with stars that scarcely had us rolling in the aisles forty years ago and the survivors of which genre make for embarrassing viewing today. And so it is with this woeful production featuring some very hammy performances by big - name actors who mug desperately and try to look as if it was all terrific fun on the off- chance that such enjoyment might be infectious. Unfortunately for them it isn't. Mr A.Rickman is particularly guilty in this respect,making his Sheriff of Nottingham seem like a masterclass in restraint. Messrs Firth and Courtenay are like the Cannon and Ball of the 21st century. Miss C.Diaz wears a fixed grin like a politician kissing his 20th baby of the day. It is loud,boorish and tedious. Presumably the remuneration was in direct disproportion to the artistic effort displayed. A blip,one hopes,on the Coen's splendid C.V. that hopefully will neither be held against them nor repeated. I urge you not to waste your time on it.