- Actors: Ron Cook, Frank Harper, James Nesbitt, Olivia Williams, Timothy Spall
- Directors: Peter Cattaneo
- Writers: Ronan Bennett, Stephen Fry
- Producers: Barnaby Thompson, Elinor Day, Hanno Huth, Lesley Stewart, Paul Webster
- Format: PAL
- Language English
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 12
- Studio: 2entertain
- DVD Release Date: 14 July 2003
- Run Time: 108 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000069JG6
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,534 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Peter Cattaneo's Lucky Break is a likable comedy which suffered by comparison with his earlier hit The Full Monty, but is attractive enough in its own terms. Charming incompetent bank robber Jimmy Hands (James Nesbitt), five years into a 12-year sentence, puts together an escape plan which exploits the desire of the stage-struck prison governor (Christopher Plummer) to see his musical about the life of Nelson performed. The plan gets ever more complicated as he finds himself needing to outwit an unpleasant thug who wants to supplant his original accomplices and wanting to wreck the career of a bullying prison officer and having to weigh the idea of escaping at all against his growing relationship with anger management trainer Annabel (Olivia Williams).
This is an intelligent caper film with some underlying seriousness to it; Jimmy comes slowly to realise that crime does involve mixing with some fairly unpleasant people. The backstage musical stuff--with its wonderfully fatuous ex-Cambridge director and a score just the right side of entire dreadfulness--is hilarious and the working out of the plot's convoluted central scam efficient. If there is an overall failure of tone, it comes from the clash between the farce elements and the bittersweet quality of the central relationship, as well as Timothy Spall's portrayal of the victimised Cliff.
On the DVD: Lucky Break is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio and has Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The special features include a director's commentary, cast and crew interviews and a short "Making of" featurette. --Roz Kaveney
Special Features
2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Cast And Director Commentary
Theatrical Trailer
Audio Description
On Location
Featurette
Cast And Crew Interviews
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Cast And Director Commentary
Theatrical Trailer
Audio Description
On Location
Featurette
Cast And Crew Interviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Surprisingly awful,
By
This review is from: Lucky Break [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
After passing on The Full Monty in favour of Brassed Off, the now all-but defunct Film Four were quick to throw money at Peter Cattaneo's next comedy and confidently launched a huge marketing campaign for Lucky Break secure in the knowledge that they had the big local hit of the year. Subsequent excuses for the film's disastrous performance at the box-office varied from good weather putting people off going to the cinema to the revelation that the screenwriter had done time for IRA offences (subsequently overturned, but still about as endearing to the British public as Al Qaeda are to Americans). For some reason no-one mentioned the fact that it's not any good. At all. A grab-bag of second-hand ideas from Two-Way Stretch, The Tall Guy and others, it's a laugh-free zone that goes out of its way to avoid surprises while failing to ever find its own tone, nodding to half-baked attempts realism and wildly underdeveloped comedy without ever committing to either. Even the tried-and-trusted routines don't work here: Bill Nighy is just irritating as he tries to splutter some life into unfunny dialogue while Timothy Spall does his dishevelled hamster shtick yet again, while the amateur musical used as a backdrop for the planned prison break seems simply amateurish and unfunny. Quite dreadful.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
One thing going for it.,
By
This review is from: Lucky Break [DVD] [2001] (DVD)
It's an okay for a rainy Saturday afternoon when nothing else is on type film. It's inoffensive.
There is one thing going for it though. If you're a fan of Julian Barratt, and even if you're not, this is a great find. He is the best thing in this film. He cracks me up. The 2 stars I've given it are both for him.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining,
By
This review is from: Lucky Break [DVD] [2001] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Small-time crook Jimmy Hands fears his luck may have run out. After a botched bank robbery, Jimmy finds himself in prison. But his fortune turns when the warden asks Jimmy to recruit prisoners to act in a musical he's written and plans to stage. Realizing this offers the possibility of a perfect escape route, Jimmy and his cast run the risk of being caught in both the stage's spotlights and the prison's searchlights. It is worth borrowing from your library as I did. It was fun to watch.
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