England in the 1700's, (1745 to be exact) was not a nice place. The rich were all made up to the eyeballs with ludicrous hair and cuffs you could hide a poodle in. They did, however smell a little better than the poor, who were lucky if they made it through the day without a vital appendage falling off in the street.
It is to this world that the audience watching Plunkett and Macleane are introduced. It's not pretty, but it's very believable and prepares you to accept the lengths to which people will go to clamber from the muck to a better life.
Thrown together through circumstance, Macleane, a semi-respectable gentleman who spends too much on women and gambling and Plunkett, a common criminal with more than a few tricks up his sleeve, find that they can rob together successfully as partners. So they do. A lot.
There's a lot of good ideas in the film, primarily the concept of turning the idea of 18th Century English nobility on its head and making it seem little more than an excuse to wear wigs and lipstick. A refreshing change in these days of Merchant Ivory productions and hey-nonny snooze.
Then there's the obligatory love interest, Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler) and the vicious baddie, in the form of the Thief Taker General Chance, played with sadistic relish by Ken Stott. Both perform well, but it's up to the two leads, and the chemistry that worked well in Trainspotting to steal the show. Being Highwaymen, they steal it with ease, commanding each scene with humour and grit in equal proportions. Some moments of the film are laugh out loud funny, while others border on the disgusting. Always funny and compelling as an action movie, (the love story is left firmly in second place) Plunkett & Macleane is great fun. Though the efforts of the excellent cast and director Jake Scott, we have another British hit on our hands.
All in all, to blatantly rip off a line from the film:
"It was fantastic and I had a bloody good laugh!"
