Greed
Dir. Michael Winterbottom / Dur. 100 mins / Country. UK
Festival Strand:- Headline Gala
In A Nutshell:- An extremely thinly-veiled Sir Philip Green analogue celebrates his sixtieth birthday in the style and excess in which he has lived his life.
The Good:- It really is a very thinly veiled critique of high street mogul Sir Philip Green - Coogan plays a wheeler-dealer who builds an empire based on buying and stripping companies of their assets to further his own wealth. In much the same vein as films like The Big Short, Greed does a good job of explaining tricky financial concepts without them seeming to be dry and boring. There’s a strong selection of current comedic talent on display with David Mitchell, Tim Key and Shirley Henderson all clearly enjoying their roles. There are also some very funny lines and sequences and the whole thing moves along ata strong pace.
The Bad:- Coogan’s performance feels a little Coogan-by-numbers - it’s the sort of performance we’ve seen from before and is beginning to feel a little worn at this point. Overall, the film doesn’t particularly feel like it’s saying anything new about the nature of greed and the sort of people who are motivated by it. Also, the closing scenes and montage about exploitation of workers don't quite feel earned - they feel somewhat like they’ve been included to justify revelling in the excess beforehand.
The Verdict:- It’s an entertaining and funny film with a barely disguised caricature of Sir Philip Green on offer but beyond the laughs, it feels like it’s struggling and ultimately not massively succeeding to make any deeper points.
The Venue / Intro / Q&A:- The Embankment Garden Cinema again but, given this was a morning screening, no one on hand for any intro or Q&A.
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