A ham actor without a penny. Who better than Michael Caine to play such a character? He is totally and utterly hilarious but, as in most of Caine's performances, he goes for it for real. The film seems to be a showcase of Dylan Moran and he's splendiferous in his double act with Caine. This, however, is where the script falters. Moran's impersonations should have been incorporated in a rather more organic way. They are too much of an act on their own and makes the potential plausibility of the plot fly out of the window. Never mind. Get it if you can find it. There is enough in it to make it a pleasurable journey.
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borromeot21 December 2009
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biggses22 May 2003To surmise, this film involves two actors (Caine and Moran) trying to con a gangster. The plot is flimsy at best as several plot holes occur throughout. However this normally shouldn't matter as the comedy should carry a film like this. There are some genuinely funny bits (mostly provided by Dylan Moran). However, other times, there are long melodramatic scenes that fail to add anything to the movie. Caine's character seemed overdone to me. Especially at the start, he continually quotes Shakespeare and acts like a pompous actor. One could say he was playing the part properly but the character seemed to me flat and unfunny. Overall I would say see only if a fan of the actors involved. Otherwise wait for video or tv.
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solebanana17 May 2003Strange effort part funded by the now-defunct FilmFour and DreamWorks amongst others, supported by the Irish film board. Basically two actors trying to act their way out of trouble.
Let's start with the good news. Child actress, very good, convincing. Lena Headey as Dolores, stunning, smouldering, good performance, I'll come back to her in a moment. Dylan Moran as Tom, good enough. Michael Caine as fading actor O'Malley, quite good, believable. Michael Gambon as Barreller, mostly quite good though sometimes he did look a bit too much like, well, Michael Gambon. Plot a bit perfunctory, Tom (at O'Malley's suggestion) pretends to be someone who Barreller owes money to and collects it instead. Things then start going wrong.
So what's the problem?
Though there are laughs along the way, some of it I found too horribly embarassing to watch, and at one point even to listen to (I put my fingers in my ears for a minute or two). It does have a romantic sub-plot, but it isn't central enough to call this a romantic film. I should also say that some of the material involving Dolores, towards the end, is dodgey for 15 year olds, and this should really be considered X-rated. In the states it's a 17-cert (R rating) not a 15 as in the UK.
I liked the throwaway ending, but though I wanted to enjoy the film, really I did, too much of it was neither funny nor entertaining. Sorry but it didn't do it for me, in spite of favourable external reviews. -
Right, for a start, I liked it. It was funny, It was farcical; Michael Caine and Dylan Moran threw themselves into their roles with such obvious glee, that I found it impossible not to be swayed by this film despite its many obvious flaws. The musical score just didn't seem appropriate; a number of the scenes appeared irrelevant and a little clunky; it just is not perfectly crafted and does appear cobbled together at times. But, and its a big but, its just funny. It just is - Michael Caine is wonderful as the neverhasbeen, entirely self absorbed O'Malley. While Moran handles his (definately more challenging) role with an almost nonchalent ease - a superb actor and one to watch in the future me thinks. In summary, and despite its flaws, if you don't laugh at this nice little film then your a bigger cynic than me - and you have my pity!
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CinemaSerf7 January 2023Sadly the whole here is not greater than the sum of the parts - and heaven only knows there are enough parts in this rather lacklustre theatrical-based comedy. Disillusioned thespian "Tony" (Sir Michael Caine) is treading the boards every evening playing the Nazi variation of Shakespeare's "Richard III" to an audience who were either doing a school project, or who just wanted to keep warm. One night he and one of his on-stage minions "Tom" (Dylan Moran) concoct a plan that could see them fleece a local gangster "Barreller" (Sir Michael Gambon) of a small fortune then play him and his felonious colleagues off one another long enough for them to escape with the loot. The basic idea is quite fun, but sadly only Sir Michael really turns up - and even then, his tongue is pretty firmly planted in his cheek. The rest of this is a pretty weak and contrived comedy poking fun at a load of things Irish and rarely raises much of a laugh. There is far too much dialogue and Moran, erstwhile a talented stand-up comic, looks uncomfortable and out of his depth amidst the more established cast which also, rather inexplicably, includes Miranda Richardson as well a few rent-a-cameos from others from the British comedy circuit. It's perfectly watchable for ninety minutes, it's not in the least offensive. Nor is it remotely memorable.
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corrinaw21 April 2007This movie is all about entertainment. Imagine your friends that you love spending time with, the ones that you know inside out becoming a bit silly and perhaps taking on a character or two. That's what this film is about. An inventive script and brilliantly performed. It's not about pleasing the masses with this one, it's about having fun with a bunch of brilliantly talented people. Which is what I'm sure they all thought when they signed up for it.
The above review sounds completely unfair and I think that the person who wrote that was in the wrong frame of mind when they watched the film. In a lighthearted moment, there is great dignity in it if you care to look.
A job well done, I thought it was a great film. I'd watch this before the North American norm any day.
In a nutshell, it's not the best film you're ever going to see but it has a hell of a lot of moments. I haven't laughed that long in an age. -
m-vinteuil27 December 2008In following Dylan Moran's star from the charming misanthrope bookstore owner in the surrealist sitcom Black Books, I could see his comic potential begging to be utilised in theater or larger cinematic avenues. This first big screen outing in a starring role (he had a cameo as Rufus the thief in Notting Hill) had oodles of promise, but like the strained Steve Coogan vehicle, The Parole Officer, has too many creases which should have been ironed out in preproduction.
The plot is so convoluted that I shan't bother repeating the finer details (the script has every character do that for us), and the laughs are sourced from show business in-jokes. Michael Caine is a pompous has-been running a production of Richard III - updated to Nazi occupation (one of the few genuine laughs, a satirical jab at Ian McKellen), in which everyone is forever doing the Hitler salute every time they take the stage. Convincing Dylan that acting should be a conceptual act unto itself, the two plot to steal money from some fairly harmless gangsters by way of their acting prowess. Confusion ensues (both on screen and in the audience), there's a romantic sub-plot between Dylan and the daughter of one of the gangsters blah blah blah and Dylan gets to dress in odd clothes and do funny accents. Michael Caine delivers some choice lines, and Dylan's comic timing is on the money, so why isn't it any good? It does have a certain charm that you would expect from Film 4, but it also has a precocious little girl acting as compass in a muddled and irrelevant plot - a no-no in screen writing 101. Exposition overshadows everything else. You just want to see Moran and Caine acting as comic foil to each other the way the were at the beginning, but when they're together toward the end, the the pairing has lost its charisma.
The Actors is an amusing, albeit underwhelming effort. Should it come on telly during a rainy Tuesday afternoon, then have at you. Otherwise you would be better off watching your old Black Books videos, or renting Withnail & I. -
planktonrules15 December 2020Anthony and Tom (Michael Caine and Dylan Moran) are starving actors. And, when you see them in action, you can easily understand why. It's not that they can't act so much as they tend to have very inflated views of their skills. As a result, the two are barely surviving in bad theater and need some sort of plan. Anthony has a weird one....for Tom to pose as a mobster sent to collect a 50,000 pound debt. How does he know about it? Well, Anthony's been slumming it...hanging out at a tough waterfront bar...perhaps for research for an acting role in the future. Naturally, this is a very stupid and dangerous thing, but it goes off without a hitch...at least at first. However, if they are discovered, the debtor or the mob could, if they are LUCKY, break their legs!
As an American, it helped watching this film with the closed captions on....and the captioning for this movie is very good. A few of the accent are strong, particularly when Moran is getting into various characters and I assume many Brits have the same problem with some American movies.
So is this film any good? Well, if you read through the reviews on IMDB, you'll notice an overall score of 6.0 and reviews that are all over the place. Some really hated it, some really loved it and many were somewhere in between. So what did I think? Well, the film was, at times funny and entertaining. However, it also made very little sense once Tom found he was in love with one of the people they robbed...and this made the movie enjoyable but highly flawed. As a result, the plot sort of went off the rails a bit. My advice is to watch it but just don't expect it all to make a lot of sense. I noticed some said the opposite...that the film improved as it went along. For me, the further the film went the funnier it got BUT the more it made little sense. But on the plus side...it is amazing to see Caine posing as a woman! -
Sonatine9720 January 2005We saw this in a bargain basket at the local Asda: £1.50 for the DVD. reading all the hype plastered all over the cover saying how "hillarious" it is, and it also had a really good, established cast, we thought this must a great film.
So we bought, took it home, shoved it in the DVD player, sat back and waited for the funnies to begin.......and waited.......and waited.....and waited a bit more.
Some 90 minutes later, although it felt more like 3 hours, the credits rolled, and that was the end of that.
What a letdown - even paying £1.50 seemed a con. God knows what Caine, Richardson and Gambon were thinking when they said 'yes' to this tosh. And as for Moran: well much as I enjoyed Black Books, Shaun of the dead, and his comedy tours, I felt he was out of his depth in this film. He tried too hard playing for laughs, probably thinking that if retaining the characteristics from his Black Books character, would work here.
Sadly it back-fired. The gags fell flat after awhile, and then he became just an irritation. Which is a shame because I believe given the right part he could be a very good film/character actor.
Anyway, to sum up: the actors in The Actors, failed to Act!!!
**/***** -
poc-126 May 2003The gags don't always come off, but the overall effect is amusing enough. Dylan Moran is perfectly cast as Tom, a loser actor. Caine is not challenged O'Malley but I didn't find him very funny. Unusual to find Michael Nyman music in a comedy, but it works well. It is a pity there were only bit parts for Michael McElhatton and Deirdre O'Kane. Good fun.
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mccarthyos22 May 2004It is hard to imagine two actors of such class and experience as Michael Caine and Michael Gambon getting involved in such an embarrassingly inept film. The responsibility for this ill-judged production has to be down to the writer, Neil Jordan and director, Conor McPherson. I doubt I've seen such a bad film with such good credits in a long time. The comedian, Dylan Moran, who made his mark as the irritable and incompetent bookshop owner in the TV sitcom, Blackbooks, turns in much the same routine here, except with such excess and lack of comedic control as to leave one squirming. It is easy to see how the story could have been made to work, for the situation is an interesting one and loaded with comic potential. A classical actor (Caine) tries to rip off the mob (Gambon and co) with the aide of a bumbling wannabe colleague (Moran), with predictable results. It could have and should have been good. Sadly, it was not to be.
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xsgerry13 March 2004I like Dylan Moran from his work in Black Books, although I found some of his stand-up to be really indulgent in terms of long confused gaps... however I was intrigued to see this film starring he and Michael Caine and curiosity got the better of me.
I was stunned.
Dylan's vocal range and characterisation of the different people he was playing in the film was absolutely perfect, something beyond the skills of a mere stand-up comedian and really truly on a par with alec guinness, john hurt and the other greats- truly he was skilled in his portrayal.
Michael Caine was a very convincing prima donna and the standard british film device of having a precocious child on hand to be overly wise and withering worked- the only aspect I didn't really like was the unbelieveable plot feature of the chemistry between Dolores and the cockney gangsta's hard man played by Dylan.
Other than that, it was great.
I also like the non-cop-out ending where it did end up happily ever after, but with MC getting a beating. OK, it's not exactly being strung up by your goolies and beijng disembowelled (which is what a real crime boss would do to you if you nicked £50k off them) but it showed at least a small measure of reality in the story.
I liked the film, and I would recommend it to anyone- but- I would also warn them not to turn it off after 15 minutes because it started a bit slow. If you stick it out, then it will all come back.
And with regards to the swearing- well, they're in Ireland. It wouldn't be real otherwise. -
mark-whait21 November 2009The real surprise of this effortlessly lightweight movie is how such a top notch cast got assembled for what is nothing more than a hammy uninspiring affair. Presumably it was a proverbial snowball rolling down a hill gathering pace and size and shape. One can imagine that by the time Miranda Richardson got contacted by her agent, the conversation went along the lines of: 'Do you want to shoot a movie in Dublin scripted by Neil Jordan? Michael Caine and Michael Gambon are already in!' This is a dull 'comedy' that sees Michael Caine and Dylan Moran try and pull off a well-planned hustle where Moran must imitate a London gangland boss (whose arrival is imminent) to collect a sizable sum of cash from local kingpin Michael Gambon. The rest is simply a forgettable romp that is thankfully over quite quickly. Moran is mildly amusing in places but on this evidence is better suited to life on the small screen in hit comedies such as Black Books. Caine is unchallenged in his role and gives a steady performance without being overstretched. One can only imagine what made him sign up for this movie - it can't even have been a summer in Dublin given that many of the scenes look positively autumnal in the background. Gambon actually steals the show, and anyone who has caught some of his performances in the likes of Have I Got News For You will know that he is a wonderfully funny man. But overall the result is disappointing, and it seems a lifetime ago that Neil Jordan was making quality movies of the likes of Mona Lisa.
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Danny_G1318 May 2003The Actors is never going to win any awards for originality, ingenuity or cinematography, but what it does do is to entertain without ever remotely taking itself seriously.
Michael Caine (The Quiet American), Dylan Moran (Black Books), and Michael Gambon (The Singing Detective) star as 2 actors who are down on their luck, and one apparent gangster (Gambon) who the actors will try to exploit. Of course the scheme doesn't quite work out as planned, and the yarn spins out thereafter.
All the players appear to enjoy themselves tremendously. Gambon and Caine especially give the impression of enjoying this light relief as a little break from their more 'serious' roles. And Moran is just excellent in comedy anyway as proven by the British TV comedy, Black Books. Forget what the critics say, this is a blast assuming you don't expect an intellectually stimulating comedy.
Thumbs up. -
topazz88820 May 2003If you are thinking of going to see this film then my advice is - dont.
For me the film failed to make the grade at every level and was a reminder of how dire most British (& Irish)films are. Forgettable tripe is the best i can say. If it had been on telly l would have wandered off to do something more interesting five minutes after the start. I saw this film with a group of friends and having read the press previews went along prepared to not be critical and hopefully pass an amusing 90 minutes. But, oh dear.....
As a comedy it wasn't funny, as a thriller the stupid story was sloppy and lazy. As a love story totally unbelievable. Most of all as a piece of 'gloriously over the top whimsy' it lacked both style and charm. Gambon and Caine did what they needed to do to earn their money playing er..... Gambon and Caine. Is it just me, but other than playing east end gangsters and jack the lads, does Michael Caine leave you cold?
In fairness, some of my friends thought it was 'ok' but if you do go, my advice is have a few drinks (or puffs) beforehand and leave your critical faculties safely locked up at home. -
jboothmillard25 August 2021I'd had this film recorded on VHS for God knows how long, and it just happened to be on TV, I think it is only because of the two leads I remembered it, I didn't know what to expect. Basically, set in Dublin, Anthony O'Malley (Sir Michael Caine) and Tom Quirk (Dylan Moran) are two mediocre stage actors currently starring in a shoddy production of William Shakespeare's Richard III. Second-rate lead actor O'Malley tells supporting co-star Quirk he has about a retired gangster, Barreller (Sir Michael Gambon), who owes £50,000 to a third party, but they have never met. O'Malley devises a plan to swindle the inept criminals out of the money. With the help of prosthetic makeup and their acting "skills", they meet with Barreller. Sure enough, they pull off the con and get their hands on the money. But things get complicated when other parties want to meet each other. Quirk is encouraged to continue with the plan by O'Malley, but also his eerily intelligent nine-year-old niece Mary (Abigail Iversen). O'Malley and Quirk restructure the plan each time something goes wrongs with more and more disguises. At one point, Barreller's relative Dolores (Lena Headey) reveals to Quirk that she is aware of the con, but chooses not to expose him or O'Malley, having romantic feelings for him. Eventually, the third party reveals herself, Mrs. Magnani (Miranda Richardson) is the criminal owed the money, and she is unhappy when she discovers what has been going on. In the end, the actors get the better of the criminals, O'Malley is injured in the process but is happy after winning an acting award, and Quirk settles back into his stage work also, with Dolores by his side. Also starring Michael McElhatton as Jock, Aisling O'Sullivan as Rita, Ben Miller as Clive, Alison Doody as herself, and Marty Whelan as herself. Caine tries his best to be funny, including an amusing scene dressed in drag, and Moran (then most famous for Black Books) is okay, future Game of Thrones star Headey doesn't add much, and young Iversen is likeable enough. There are many problems with this farce, a script full of plot holes and confusion, predictable moments and jokes that fall flat, I guess it was only the leads that kept me watching somewhat, otherwise it is generally not worth bothering with, a boring and forgettable crime comedy. Adequate!
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adamjohns-4257522 September 2023The Actors (2003) -.
I wasn't keen on how this film started off, because it was a tad daft and over exaggerated. Dylan Moran's sarcastic and dry humour worked well in 'Black Books' (2000-4) but I didn't feel that it was enough to fill a film in his role of Tom Quirk and the writing and comedy of this one wasn't really that up to scratch in the first place.
It was a shame, because I do love Michael Caine, who played Anthony O'Malley here, and having recently watched him in 'Without A Clue' (1988) I was hoping to find this film to be another one of his lesser known gems.
Sadly, despite my best hopes it didn't improve as the story progressed and instead I found it hard to believe that Lena Headey in the role of Dolores would ever fall for Dylan's lacklustre and desperate personage.
The farcical London "Gangsters" and the "Going Straight" Irish contingent of Bareller played by Michael Gambon, etc, were almost insulting. I could imagine The Krays watching this film and being offended, because I was at times.
I made it to the end of the film for Mike's sake, but I couldn't conceive of ever watching it again. Perhaps Mr Caine saw this film as he did with 'Jaws 4: The Revenge' (1987) and just used it as an opportunity to buy a new house? I can't imagine that he's ever watched this one either.
My only notes whilst watching this were that it was a daft start and that it didn't improve, so it was hard to write a review based on that. You should only really watch it if you're trying to complete a Gambon or Caine marathon, but I would suggest that you skip it even then.
331.12/1000. -
ichobodcrane29 January 2004At first I thought this film was going to annoy me.It was as though I had seen this movie somewhere before. The disillusioned hero, the father figure and the 9 year old sister who is older and wiser than her years (see Gregory's girl), but then, not 15 minutes in, it became a laugh out loud, comic gem of a movie. Dylan Moran (who I thought was just going to bug me) was excellent. As was Mr Gambon and the mad Scottish hitman. Lena Headey was extremely sexy. For half of the film I was trying to remember where I'd seen her before. The Parole officer. She has the most amazing smile. But clearly the true hero of this film is Mr Caine. This man should do much more comedy. This ranks alongside some of his best comedy roles (Without a Clue, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). He is a pleasure to watch in all of his scenes but especially the end.
No one can quite say f**k the way Michael can. -
Harriet_C_Dufresnes21 May 2003The plot drunkenly careers from silly to ridiculous and makes less and less sense as it nears the end. The photography isn't exactly the stuff of Oscars, either. I still can't see what the point of the little girl is. And the theme is, frankly, dreadful.
Fortunately, there is a reason to see this film. The two Sir Michaels re - like the Richard III poster says - "Perfect-ly Adequate" but Dylan Moran is seriously good as Tom, and it was his performance that stopped me from walking out of the cinema. How frustrating to see his first major movie role be in such a dumb film. Here's hoping it doesn't stop him from getting the recognition (and the roles) he deserves! -
This film is a joy to watch and should do well on DVD and video. I suppose you really have to be Irish to appreciate the some of the subtlties such as accent, colloquialisms and the dress sense of some of the characters but let me assure you that when Dylan Moran impersonates 'Barreler' the impersonation is quite familiar to most people from Dublin because we have many characters in our fine city that look, act and talk like that! The sheer simple comedy employed and Michael Caines genius acting alone are worth the money but on top of this the plot is great, the script is fantastic and the dialogue fast moving and catchy. A perfect light entertainment movie without the madcap humour of Jim Carrey.
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Anthony O'Malley is an old actor who has long since said goodbye to his best days. A lacklustre performance in a terrible version of Richard III that nobody wants to see. One of his support cast is the unsuccessful and jobbing actor Tom who is equally in need of some form or career or income boost. In order to help develop his villain, O'Malley has been hanging around a rough pub in the docks with a criminal called Barreller and, in doing so he has learnt that Barreller owes another party money a party he does not know. So O'Malley makes a proposition to Tom that Tom will present himself as an agent for this "other party", collect the money and split it with O'Malley. The first act is simple and well executed but quickly the two find themselves getting deeper into lies.
At the time of release I must confess that the trailer did nothing to make me want to see this but, by the time the television premier rolled around I had forgotten this and decided to tune in for the presence of Dylan Moran whom I find very funny in certain things. Sadly this was not one of them and laughs were pretty thin on the ground throughout. So instead I settled into the plot, which at first seemed to offer some interesting scenarios before quickly collapsing into a series of disguises and unconvincing ideas that don't really work. It isn't "bad" per se but it certainly isn't any good. It produced enough forward movement and amusing ideas to hold my interest but it rarely did anything to justify doing so and I was generally disappointed with the fact that it failed to do much.
The characters are not that well developed and the sort of pathos I hoped would add value to the material and there isn't that much for the actors to work with. This lack of depth means Michael Caine can't do much with his character and has no laughs to help him out thus seeing him finally dressed as a woman is yet another low in a career of highs and lows. Moran struggles with the lack of good comedy to work with but still makes a good fist of his various characters and is amusing if not funny. Gambon collects his check and turns in an average performance while Headey looks sexy but doesn't have much else to do. Iverson also lacks material but she gives a nice performance and avoids being an annoying cute kid type of actor.
Overall this is a fairly average film that offers some fun early on but generally just becomes messy and poorly delivery the more it goes on. The cast are so-so mainly because they lack the laughs (Moran) or the depth (Caine) that they needed to turn in good work. It all does enough to be watchable but it doesn't do anything particularly well. -
lamellama-125 January 2007If you are going to watch this film because Michael Caine or Michael Gambon are in it then don't bother, it's not their typical role although I found Gambon fantastic. Instead watch it for Dylan Moran I am a fan of everything I have seen him in and this is no exception, I didn't even realise he could act but even the characters which he has to pass himself off as I found completely believable, which is impressive considering the audience knows they are fake.
The plot is genius and although it is not constant laughs all the way through it has plenty of other charms. A great film for people with a sense of humour. -
Look as being Anglo-Irish I assure you this reviewer is anything but Bias. But I assure you this is very much an Irish Film - and not English as the last comment seems to have suggested. This film was written by Neil Jorden and Conor McPherson and directed by Conor McPherson too - both Irish. The Cast is almost entirely Irish - it was shot in Ireland with an Irish crew. Even Michael Gambon was born in Ireland - I remember him joking about it in an interview about this film.
Michael Cane was evidently brought in to boost Box office takings abroad.
Loved the film, I just wanted to correct a totally uninformed comment!
Now on with the review - I loved Dylan Moran, have always been a fan of his, himself and Michael Cane formed a surprisingly good double act. It was great to see Morans range as an actor as he plays several different made up characters during the film. I would recommend this film to anyone with an interest in comedy - as it represents a fresh, quirky and inventive turn in Irish feature length chuckle films. I laughed a lot. what more could you ask for? -
rattius21 April 2007tell you what that was excellent. Dylan Moran is simply the funniest actor on screen( and on stage) and with Micheal Caine as your partner ain't to bad either, both are great to watch in a really funny film. true, not all the gags come off but its worth sticking around for the ones that do, but come on its got Micheal Caine in a dress in it( the whole admission fees worth that) and every time Dylan Moran's on screen its more like Bernard blacks movie. the story is two actors(Moran and Caine) who decide to steal money from a group of gangsters by acting out different persona's to fool them all but getting away with it's a different matter. basically "the actors" is a great British comedy that was somehow missed by many, seriously if your a Moran fan(or want to see Micheal Caine in a dress) definitely see this
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I know this film has had a fairly rough ride from the critics, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The real star here is the fantastic Dylan Moran. He never fails to be both hilarious and convincing in all of his varied disguises. He also manages to radiate a sweet charm that belies his outrageous pratfalls. Special mention must also go to Michael Gambon who plays for laughs with a brilliantly accurate and yet comedic inner city Dublin accent. The only weak link is Caine who, while obviously having a great laugh hamming it up, plays the least interesting and most unsympathetic character. It probably won't play that well overseas but it's well worth a watch all the same.