One tube driver who isn't hooked on customer service
Three and Out (15) Director Jonathon Gerschfield Starring Mackenzie Crook, Colm Meaney, Imelda Staunton, Gemma Arterton, Sir Antony Sher 109 mins Two star rating Usually British black comedies slink into our theatres with a minimal out-of-politeness publ
Three and Out (15) Director Jonathon Gerschfield
Starring Mackenzie Crook, Colm Meaney, Imelda Staunton, Gemma Arterton, Sir Antony Sher 109 mins
Two star rating
Usually British black comedies slink into our theatres with a minimal out-of-politeness publicity campaign.
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Three and Out arrives on the back of a blanket poster campaign - no bus or tube station is complete without one. Its plot about a tube driver trying to find someone to commit suicide in front of his train and earn him a massive retirement payout has earned it some controversy - the general secretary of Aslef objecting that it portrayed a tube driver as "a callous, self-seeking half-wit."
After all that you may be fooled into thinking it's something special. Despite the jokey, bouncy red lettering on the posters and titles, the type normally seen on the cover of a Benny Hill compilation DVD, this is not some jaunty romp but a relatively heartfelt character piece with some moments of mild amusement.
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It's basically an odd couple story about the relationship between would-be suicide Colm Meaney and tube driver Mackenzie Crook. It's not terrible, but some of the crucial scenes are badly handled and the central relationship doesn't really take off. Despite some nice performances - particularly from Imelda Staunton - it's never quite credible and nearing the climax it goes into slow motion to try to drum up an emotional moment that the film hasn't earned.
Sir Antony Sher has a small cameo in a sequence that seems to come from an entirely different film, as well as being lifted from an episode of the Channel 4 comedy The IT Crowd.
