Greedy People

From time to time we get to watch a good comedy you know the comedy that matters not the stupid comedy and this one is a good comedy.

Since I saw the trailer I was laughing at the parts where you say that is a good joke a good scene and it did not disappoint at all.

The whole movie is kind of a comic mess just from one wrong decision but it pays at the end and you feel good watching it and even talking about it to your friends.

The cast did well everyone played his parts and played his/her role perfectly. I would recommend it to everyone who is longing for a good comedy not stupid circus comedy but real comedy.

Greedy People is a black comedy clearly inspired by the Coen brothers as its colourful cast of characters squabble over a bag of money without communicating to one another, leading to disastrous results. It's obviously not as well done as its inspirations, especially since the shift from quirky comedy to thriller isn't smooth but it remains twisty fun. The humour is mostly front-loaded and the biggest shocks come towards the end.

It starts off as a two-hander between Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Himesh Patel, who have a suitably awkward rapport and Gordon-Levitt's washed up cop who spends his days learning mandarin and playing his own music is definitely the highlight of the whole film. Lily James takes control for a chapter, grappling with what she's doing effectively and Uzo Aduba is the unwavering moral centre in the vein of Marge Gunderson.

Potsy Ponciroli's direction waits until over 20 minutes in to drop the title which works beautifully and the most serious moments taking place in torrential rainfall makes those scenes look so good. The chaptered structure also works with it having a fairly big cast who all do their own things and the film has a real talent for executing those characters. Jordan Lehning's score has a fittingly quirky nature as well which disappears in the second half.

It is probably true that any black comedy is rarely laugh out loud funny, but I suppose that depends on your sense of humour? This starts off light hearted enough before turning to the theme of its title, and exploring the darker side of peoples natures when a bag of money comes into play. So the early, light hearted smiles and chuckles, give way to a more uncomfortable feeling as the bodies begin to fall, whilst avoiding becoming too morose.

The look and sound is at the higher end of B movie standard, the script is respectably tight and coherent, the characters are believably eccentric, likeable, and interesting. There are some great comedy performances delivering tight, well structured and funny/amusing dialogue.

Maybe not a Saturday night must see, but definitely a Friday night weekend opener.

Police Officer Will Shelley (Himesh Patel) and his very pregnant wife Paige (Lily James) are new to an island community. It's Will's first day at work. He accidentally kills a housewife and finds a load of cash. His partner Officer Terry Brogan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) suggests stealing the cash and faking a robbery homicide.

I have a couple of issues with the money. First, real thieves would never leave the cash with another thief. Will should demand his share right away and hide it himself. Second and more confounding, I don't know how Paige got the cash to the hospital. Did no one ask what's in that plastic bag? It seems highly unlikely. This is nowhere Coen Brothers level, but there is still some good dark humor crime chaos.

Do yourself a big favor and skip the trailer. This is a fairly dark movie but I suspect the marketing department didn't quite know how to present it. So they put the lighter/funnier moments in the trailer and turned it loose, hoping for the best.

The movie itself was quite intriguing. A wide assortment of characters, of varying moral character, end up on a slippery downward slope of their own doing.

Excellent cinematography with good acting all around. Tim Blake Nelson? What can I say? I'd watch him read the phone book and he was superb as a slimeball.

Definitely worth watching, just be aware the trailer painted something a bit lighter.