Coup de filet

Good little film for TV. Almost for kids but with too much machine gun fire and aiming with it. Quite fun. Nothing should be taken seriously in this.

In Belfast, the criminal Mad Dog Flynn (David O'Hara) cannot have a baby with his girlfriend. The gambler Jimbo (Martin McCann) has a baby and owes five thousand dollars to Mad Dog. The gangster proposes to exchange the debt for the baby and Jimbo decides to heist the Fish Market with his friend Sox (Conor MacNeil) using an automatic weapon from the IRA that belongs to Sox's grandfather. Meanwhile, the American Joe Maguire (Brendan Fraser) flees from his wife, whose father is a powerful mobster in Boston, and comes to Belfast to run his cousin's antique business. Joe dates his neighbor Sophie (Yaya DaCosta) and notes that Jimbo is frequently staring at him on the street. The clumsy Jimbo steals a suitcase from the Fish Market without knowing that it belongs to Mad Dog. However his escape plan fails and he runs to Joe's store. However he accidentally shots his gun and the police puts the place under siege. When Jimbo tells to Joe that he might be his son, the American sympathizes with the hoodlum and decides to help him negotiating with the police.

"Whole Lotta Sole" is a corny comedy lost in many unnecessary subplots. The story has a funny beginning and good gags but in a certain moment becomes boring and mawkish. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Negociador" ("The Negotiator")

"We were robbed, he got the brown bag. Yes, that brown bag." Jimbo is a young father who has a gambling problem. When he gets in deep to a local mob boss he has one choice. Pay him back or give him his son. With his back against the wall he decides to rob a fish market, but for a non-criminal things don't always go right. This first and foremost is a really funny comedy. Just seeing the events unfold on its own is really funny and entertaining to watch but when mixed with the dialog it makes it that much more fun to watch. This movie combines the best of British crime movies with American comedy. While this movie won't win any awards it is one of the most entertaining movies that I have seen in a while and I recommend this. The type of movie you can just put in and not really have to think about, just watch and enjoy. I liked it. Overall, very entertaining and very much worth seeing. I give it a B+.

Whole Lotta Sale or Stand off, whichever title this is being released (Germany was the former), I think will define the expectations of people watching it. I can not account for that, off course. Stand off does sound more intriguing, which can be seen in the main picture, but maybe says too much, while Whole Lotta Sale does not say anything at all, about the movie as it is.

Brendan Fraser has a nice little role, but it's the supporting cast, that makes the movie. There are some refreshing and funny takes on things (being Scottish vs. the Rest, Family issues in general and more). If you can dig those little things, you might come to like this movie more than the rating suggests on IMDb

This film is an attempt to make a British crime comedy for an American audience. It gets off to a promising start (if we disregard the wholly unnecessary exposition explaining why Brendan Fraser's character left the United States). The three main story lines are introduced and succeed in raising interest in the protagonists, but as more and more superfluous side characters are drawn into it, the plot starts to unravel. Yaya Dacosta turns into a cardboard cutout placed in the scenes to present stock reactions in the background. What little chemistry existed between her and Fraser evaporates in the silliness of what are supposed to be plot twists. Fraser and McCann had no spark to begin with. Really, this film is carried between Colm Meaney and Michael Legge.