Review of Gambit (2012) by Norimi S — 10 May 2013

*** This review may contain spoilers ***.

Gambit, a revisitation of a swinging 60s caper movie starring Michael Caine and Shirley Maclaine, features Colin Firth as a hapless art expert who, with the aid of sexy Texan rodeo girl Cameron Diaz, plans to swindle obnoxious squillionaire Alan Rickman with the aid of a fake Monet painted by art forger Tom Courtenay.

This is fairly broad and obvious stuff. It has come in for a moderate amount of criticism, yet much of this is unfair: it is frequently genuinely funny (though not screamingly so), although the funniest moment, by far, is a fart gag. The knockabout side of the humour is comical and Firth is amiable enough, but Diaz overplays (not that she is given the opportunity to do anything else).

Perhaps criticism derives from the fact that writers the Coen brothers are supposed to be edgy and trendy, and this is actually pretty traditional stuff. Maybe so, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating: it may not appeal to those who love the Coens as auteurs, nor to the fans of toilet, sex and profanity filled youth comedies, but it greatly pleased a cinema populated by English couples in their middle years.