Gambit

Colin Firth obviously wanted a less taxing role after stammering as King George VI. In this remake of a Sixties Michael Caine comic 'caper' he plays a disgruntled art dealer who decides to trick his unpleasant billionaire boss into buying a fake Monet. Shirley MacLaine's Hong Kong dancer roped in as co-conspirator and candy-floss in the 1966 version has became a Texas rodeo queen - Cameron Diaz doing her best with a one-dimensional part.

Alan Rickman does an appropriately pantomime turn as the monstrously egotistical tycoon and gets some of the movie's most embarrassing scenes, but he seems to be having fun. Colin Firth makes a visible effort to enjoy losing his pants on a ledge outside the Savoy Hotel, but the role would have perhaps been easier for Hugh Grant. Stanley Tucci plays a German art expert who may (or may not) be inspired by Albert Schweitzer. The London scenes are livelier than the scenes at Rickman's Downtonesque country house, though a farting dowager moment targets a younger audience than this is likely to pull in.

This piece of fluff comes from the Coen brothers who usually apply themselves to something zanier and zingier. If they wanted to revamp a comedy heist movie, why didn't they take on Peter Ustinov's all-star Istanbul romp TOPKAPI (1964) or, if they wanted to keep the budget down, Warren Beatty's KALEIDOSCOPE, also from 1966, which had more pace and plot than the original GAMBIT but not such deft performances? It's really only the actors who raise this year's GAMBIT from being potentially dire into something that is merely mediocre.

This film is about an art curator who decides to seek revenge on his horrible boss by tricking him to buy a fake Monet painting.

"Gambit" is a delightful lighthearted comedy about a heist that deviates from the plan. The original plan that Harry had was displayed in the beginning ten minutes of the film, then the rest of the run time is about how things do not go according to plan. Actually everything goes wrong and the situation becomes so hilarious. Colin Firth is great as a frustrated and disgruntled art curator, while Cameron Diaz is charming with her distinctive accent. She makes her character so interesting, her mischievous simplicity is a sharp contrast to how she gets things done in a well controlled manner. The ending twists are well executed, making it a truly Coen script. I find "Gambit" funny and entertaining.

I had no idea what "Gambit" would be about when I watched. It was the stellar cast of Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman that convinced me to try this low-key film release. And I am sure glad I did.

"Gambit" is a funny little comedy about art curator Harry Deane (Firth) hatching a caper to sell a forgery of a Monet painting to his own haughty boss (Rickman). Deane picks an American rodeo champion, PJ Puznowski (Diaz) as accomplice, or does she have other plans up her sleeve?

The very British comedy had been written by the very American Ethan and Joel Coen, with very wry and witty results. Surely, there is no out-of- the-box, off-the-wall "Fargo" or "No Country for Old Men" Coens in this film. This is simple and straightforward comedy. I wonder why they did not direct it themselves.

Colin Firth gets away from his serious period films with this film where his character gets into the most unfortunate and ridiculous of circumstances. Alan Rickman plays a very rich, formal and ruthless CEO here, but we get to see him in a couple of the most embarrassing scenes of all. We will forget Prof. Snape as we watch this.

Cameron Diaz again plays a pretty, perky girl, seemingly lacking brain matter, a character she can play with a blindfold, but nonetheless fun to watch. Distinguished British actor Tom Courtenay plays the very capable art forger Major, who is Deane's partner-in-crime.

Overall, this is one very entertaining film. Those scenes of Colin Firth outside the window of the hotel were pretty funny, among many other scenes. It is fun. It is neat. I enjoyed it a lot.

Art heist comedy.

An art curator (Colin Firth) in London devises a way to rob his wealthy art collector boss (Alan Rickman) with the help of a rodeo champion from Texas (Cameron Diaz).

It's a remake of an old Michael Caine film I remember really liking because you see the heist plan smoothly imagined and then you get the somewhat different reality. In this version the imagined plan is brief and sadly does not firm a key component of the movie.

Overall, the film is just okay, mildly amusing with a mediocre plot, but not that memorable. Rickman and Firth are entertaining though.

I was prepared to like this film as I'd seen the original Gambit. This film however, had a completely different story line. Colin Firth does his best with it and there are a couple of smiley moments, especially when he loses his trousers climbing round a hotel ledge but it is not enough. The film is very short, and when it ends you wonder what possessed the Coen Brothers to make it. Cameron Diaz is extremely irritating and the character goes nowhere. Tom Courtenay was wasted in his role and some of the so called funny situations are too contrived ie when they book into the London hotel. The twists in the tale aren't twists at all, just cop outs. It just seems a pointless film and is not clever or funny enough. Colin Firth is a brilliant actor but sometimes his lightweight film choices are very strange. A disappointment.