Review of 44 Inch Chest (2009) by Dana A — 14 Jun 2010

This film definately gets an A for effort and it sure as hell had gumption. The writing was one of the most sophiscated and has elements of a modern Shakespearean play. It features some of the best cast and lets face it the premise and the way the trailer was cut made this film absolutely fasinating with elements of suspense and drama.

44 Inch Chest is an examination of the male ego and the damage it can undergo. Luckily, it avoids all pretentiousness by being hilariously crude but never has love and commitment been put into words with such passion and resonance.

It's simple, but touching and brutal. Each of Winstone's friends embodies a different notch on the spectrum of masculinity. McShane is the love 'em and leave 'em guy, Hurt plays a fantastically foul and cantankerous black and white kind of guy.

Each has endless quotable dialogue that is modestly profound. A thinker and a talker, this is more stage play/psychological analysis than the gangster revenge flick the well edited yet false trailer lead us to believe.

The main and only problem some people main find with this movie is the lack of movement and the fact in the end, nothing really happens. You watch a man fall to pieces, have a nervous breakdown and then that's it.

Its all talk and no action and sadly it doesn't go anywhere. It would make for a wonderful play but for a movie when people have higher expectations and shorter attention spans it doesn't really translate well and loses it audience.