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Amazon.co.uk Review
Rancid Aluminium's unlikely hero, leery Liam Gallagher-look-a-like Pete (Rhys Ifans), is wholly unprepared for promotion to head of the family business after his father dies unexpectedly. To make matters worse, no matter how hard he tries he can't impregnate his wife Sarah (Sadie Frost), and believes he's shooting blanks. Unable to handle responsibility, Pete turns to scheming Irish accountant Deeny (Joseph Fiennes) for help, who recommends that the company seek foreign investment to pay off its debts. What Pete doesn't know is that Deeny is trying to do him out of the business and has arranged a "loan" from a Russian Mafia warlord, Mr Kant (Steven Berkoff), whose raven-haired daughter Masha (Tara Fitzgerald) is set on seducing Pete. Given its all-star British cast (which also includes Dani Behr, Keith Allen and Nick Moran) and bestseller source material, Rancid Aluminium must have looked like a sure-fire comedy hit. But first-time director Ed Thomas (better known as a playwright and theatre director) can't seem to keep a handle on the convoluted plot and the laughs are entirely incidental. Ifans's irritating mockney voiceover doesn't help, nor the fact that Tara Fitzgerald's accent keeps slipping between Stalingrad and Sloane Square. Fans of the James Hawes original may get a thrill from seeing his characters come to life, but it's unlikely anyone else will. --Chris Campion
Special Features
4:3 Full Frame
English
Region 2
Dolby Pro Logic English
Dolby Pro Logic
Trailer
Featurette
English
Region 2
Dolby Pro Logic English
Dolby Pro Logic
Trailer
Featurette
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
In the wake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the British film industry rapidly became swamped with bad gangster films in the late `90s-early `00s that seem even more desperate today than they did then. In one of the all-time great cases of pearls-from-swine, the producers of Rancid Aluminium brazenly plastered the quote `The best film of the century' from one review all over the ads while omitting the rest of the sentence pointing out that that was only because, at the time of writing, it was the only film that had been released in 2000. Looking at it today it's hard to imagine how it ever got made, uniting a cast that was briefly considered the cream of Cool Britannia's Lads Mags Brigade - Rhys Ifans, Sadie Frost, Nick Moran and Joseph Fiennes - but now merely a guarantee of a turkey every time in a confused adaptation of a confused James Hawes novel. That the plot is never explained could be down to the possibility that no-one really knows what it is, or perhaps simply don't think it matters. Something to do with Ifans' businessman being set up with Steven Berkoff's homicidal Russian crime lord in a money-laundering or investment scheme (it's never clear which because no-one ever asks) by Fiennes' crooked Irish accountant, who expects the Russians to kill off Ifans so he can take over his failing company. Things get increasingly confused and underexplained from there on, Ifans alternates between shouting about how terrible his life is while juggling visits to the fertility clinic and sleeping with his secretary and Tara Fitzgerald's ludicrously accented Russian temptress, Berkoff keeps on saying "Bizniss" and "Francis Drake" and Fiennes does a decent Irish accent while proving that just because he played a great writer in Shakespeare in Love doesn't mean he's any judge of good writing when it comes to film scripts.
When the most convincing performances come from Keith Allen and Dani Behr, you know a film is in deep trouble. With Poland standing in for a Russia filled with people with Polish accents and a strange score that veers from John Barry pastiche to lounge music to Ennio Morricone spaghetti Western on a stylophone budget, it fails completely in the cool stakes it's aiming for and ends up in a curious overplotted but almost plotless limbo all its own, sitting there like a joke shop dog turd.
When the most convincing performances come from Keith Allen and Dani Behr, you know a film is in deep trouble. With Poland standing in for a Russia filled with people with Polish accents and a strange score that veers from John Barry pastiche to lounge music to Ennio Morricone spaghetti Western on a stylophone budget, it fails completely in the cool stakes it's aiming for and ends up in a curious overplotted but almost plotless limbo all its own, sitting there like a joke shop dog turd.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
This is a truly awful film. The plot is nonsensical and the characters are so one-dimensional that you could not give a damn whether they live or die. Tara Fitzgerald in particular is dreadful and as for Sadie Frost, I really think that she is only ever cast in these things because of who her mates are as she can only play one character.
I can only assume that this film got made with this particular cast because they were part of the 'Cool Britannia' scene that was trendy at the time.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Don't set your hopes up to high for this one as I think it is a dreadful film. If poor films become the future cult movies then this is sure to have acquired cult status already. The plot is nonsensical, the cast portray such uninspiring roles and it left me not caring about the outcome. Why Tara Fitzgerald chose this role I fail to see, she must have needed the money. It is a very poor performance by her only eclipsed by the woeful inadequacies of Sadie Frost in her part. She does what she always does, exactly the same, and shows no star quality at all. Riding on the back of the success of Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels this, seen to be 'Cool UK' scene, was perhaps trendy at the time, but now is quite honestly just baffling. The film is nothing more than passable, so avoid it unless you are an avid collector.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Widescreen
Although the box states ' Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 ' it is in fact a ' Non Anamorphic Widescreen ' so just adjust your TV and you will be able to watch it in ' Widescreen '
Published on 4 Mar 2008 by brian from london
Rancid it is.
The worst British film of the last 20 years, and let's face it, there have been some beauties haven't there? Avoid at all costs and save 2 hours of your life.
Published on 22 Aug 2004
Sharp suits, Motors, geezers
If you only buy one DVD this year buy this one. This film is on a much deeper level than most people realise. Read more
Published on 1 Feb 2001
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