Reviewer's Rating 2 out of 5
High Heels and Low Lifes (2001)
15

How disappointing. But then, what should one expect from the writer of "Spiceworld"? "High Heels And Low Lifes" is a dull waste of a film, which will have you forgetting scenes, before they've even finished. There are a couple of giggles - and a couple of well-put-together set pieces, but really, does that qualify as an action comedy?

At least it gives Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack a go at some meaty leading roles, as a put-upon nurse and gobby actress respectively, who stumble upon a heist by nasty Kevin McNally. And dissatisfied by their own, uninspiring lives, they, in true "Thelma and Louise" stylee, decide to get in on the action by blackmailing one of the villain's dim accomplices (Dyer, doing his hyperactive wideboy routine for the umpteenth time).

The rest of the movie is a series of slightly hysterical plot contrivances, which results in the film's best moment: a bombastic conclusion. McNally is fine as a cartoon baddie and McCormack gives it attitude as a bolshy, Yank thesp. But Driver - what is it about her that everyone thinks is so great? Aside from having a jawline like David Coulthard's sister, she is a very ordinary on-screen presence. Er, sorry.

Mel Smith scored big with "Bean", but here it's direction-by-numbers. Of course, it's a British film - in the way "Notting Hill" was a British film - and therefore, English film critics shouldn't slag it off. Lucky then, that it's so forgettable.

Watch a clip of the "High Heels Low Lifes" London premiere.

End Credits

Director: Mel Smith

Writer: Kim Fuller

Stars: Minnie Driver, Mary McCormack, Kevin McNally, Danny Dyer, Michael Gambon, Hugh Bonneville

Genre: Comedy, Action, Drama

Length: 84 minutes

Cinema: 20 July 2001

Country: UK

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