Review of Dom Hemingway (2013) by Mike M — 13 Apr 2014

All Dom Hemingway(Jude Law) wants after spending twelve years in prison for keeping his mouth shut is to be paid what he is owed for his last job. Spending three nights with two prostitutes is not a half bad downpayment, however, even if he hardly survives the experience. Back to the business at hand, Dom and his best friend Dickie(Richard E. Grant) travel to France to meet with Fontaine(Demian Bichir) to collect the rest. And everything goes well until Dom hits on Paolina(Madalina Ghenea), Fontaine's girlfriend, thus putting everybody's life in danger.

Since we never get to see it up close, it is hard to say whether Dom is right when he says that his penis deserves a monument on the Washington Mall.(Or the closest equivalent.) What I do know for sure is that everything that happens in "Dom Hemingway" is because of said penis. And as fun as the movie can be, that's pretty much it, as it is so improbable at times that it is on the verge of magic realism, ending on a rather abrupt note. Admittedly, Jude Law is quite good in an unselfconscious performance that has less to do with the paunch and male pattern baldness than with him playing a grandfather. But we've seen better. That leaves it for Richard E. Grant to steal the movie out from under him just with his greatly bemused reactions.