High Heels And Low Lifes Review

"High Heels And Low Lifes" is the new comedy from English director and comedian Mel Smith, whose last movie – "Bean" – was a huge hit both here and in the States. Unfortunately it’s hard to imagine this movie doing anywhere near as well. Minnie Driver stars as hardworking London nurse Shannon, and token American star Mary McCormack plays her best friend Frances, a struggling actress. The two of them overhear a call made during a bank robbery and soon realise they have the opportunity to get some fast cash by blackmailing the robbers. But of course things don’t go quite according to plan, and it’s not too long before they’re involved in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

Its hard to believe, but both Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack had to audition for the film as it was apparently a hot script in Hollywood, offering as it does two strong female roles, neither of whom is reduced to victim or token love interest. However the script lets the film down in a number of ways and

falls between two stalls, being neither funny enough as a comedy or suspenseful enough as a thriller. The two leading ladies do the best they can and present us with credible performances and a convincing on-screen friendship, but all of the villains – including Sir Michael Gambon as a camp criminal mastermind – are little more than stock British gangster clichés. A film then that fails to live up to its lofty "Thelma And Louise" meets "The Long Good Friday" ambitions.