TwentyFourSeven

Staring: Bob Hoskins, Danny Nussbaum, Bruce Jones

Directed by Shane Meadows

Review by The Ranting WolfCastle

    This was a limited release film and you've probably never even heard of it unless you're a Bob Hoskins fan.  That's why I watched it, and this film is by far the most intelligent movie I've ever seen staring Hoskins.  This is Shane Meadows' directorial debut, and I've heard he's also planning on making other films with Hoskins.

    Alan Darcy played by Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Mona Lisa) sets up a boxing club to give teenagers in a failing industrial town something to believe in.  Every one of the teenagers has a different problem, whether it be with his parents or with drugs.  Darcy helps them get their lives back on track.

    I should probably start off by saying that if I have one major bias, it's that any movie staring Bob Hoskins is a good movie.  That doesn't mean that I feel I gave this film more credit than it deserves, it just means that maybe most people won't like it as much as me.  I do however stand behind my rating.   

    I've heard constant criticism from many of my peers and others about black and white films.  Some people will even go so far as to absolutely refuse to see a movie because it is in black and white.  I don't really like black and white, except for when it is used for a purpose.  Every film maker that has shot in b/w instead of in color claim that they have a reason for this, but I find in many cases that it is just to make their movie more epic than it really is.  Kevin Smith's Clerks is a prime example.  I believe the only reason he shot in b/w is because he wanted his film to be "artsy".  But Shane Meadows' choice to shoot in b/w was a good one.  This is a very depressing movie, it shows the hardships of young men in rough towns, if it was in color it would have lost something.  The b/w only adds to the mood of the overall movie, and that is basically the most important part of a film like this one.  I'm trying to tell you that if you want to see a movie, but are reluctant because it is in b/w, get off your ass and see the film.  It may surprise you.

    The acting in this film is remarkable, at no time in the movie do I find myself watching a bunch of actors as opposed to real people.  And that's exactly what everyone in the film is, they're all just a bunch of Shane Meadows' buddies.   That's what's so great about their acting, you could say that they aren't acting because they go through this stuff everyday, but that wouldn't be right.  I could star in a movie that I wrote about a day in my life, but it would still be acting, are you following me?  Bob Hoskins is always good in my eyes, and I believe that this is the best role he's ever had. 

    There are parts of the movie that stray a little from the plot.   They aren't bad, they're just little scenes where one guy will be telling his friends about a girl he laid, or one guy will be bitching about how much his fish'n chips suck.  I don't know why these scenes are in the movie, but I did enjoy them.  A couple of them are pretty funny, I just wonder about the relevance.

    There is one more thing that I didn't like about the film, but it can't be helped.  Just be advised that the accents are a little hard to understand at times.  It's just like Trainspotting or The Full Monty, where you know they're speaking English, but no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to understand what the hell they are saying.  But it didn't seem to affect my overall understand of any scene.  If you miss a line, you probably catch the next one, then you just infer what the general course of the dialogue has been.  It still sucks though, because I missed some of the jokes, and stuff like that.  But nothing can be done.

    I can't tell you how good this movie is, you have to see it for yourself.  But don't see it if you're about to commit suicide or something, because it's not exactly a feel good flick.

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