Flypaper

Introduction

I have to admit from the start that I'm not a fan of comedy films like The Hangover franchise. So it was with trepidation that I received this latest comedy from Hangover screenwriting duo Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, especially as Flypaper was not a film I'd even heard of. True there are a number of films that go direct to DVD, but there's a reason for that - generally they're not that good. The concept was an interesting one though, one I'm surprised hasn't been covered before on celluloid, that of a bank heist committed simultanously ny two different crews. The more I thought about it though, the more I realised that in the wrong hands the concept wouldn't hold up for long...

So...on a rather uneventful afternoon, Tripp Kennedy (Patrick Dempsey) strolls into his local bank near closing time to get some change - and it's a lot of change and relates to prime numbers, which kind of annoys soon to be married teller Kaitlin (Ashley Judd). Then in walks a black dude, a bald Jew and a psychopathic Englishman like a bad joke to rob the bank vault, all masked up with gadgets a-plenty and automatic weapons. A seriously professional gang.

Bizarrely, at the same time two trialer park trash victims nicknamed Peanut Butter (Tim Blake Nelson) and Jelly (Pruitt Taylor Vince) decide it's time for their heist, their targets are the banks ATMs. A security update is being performed at the time and this leads to the bank being completely sealed with both gangs locked in.

Tripp is quite a smart dude, despite the fact he really needs his medication, and tries to save Kaitlin from the initial gunfight between the two gangs, in which a bystander is killed by the crossfire. A truce is called between the two gangs who decide they'll work their own heists and stay out of each others way, moving the remaining staff and customers to a kitchen area as hostages. The truce slowly starts to dissolve as Tripp, still with full faculties despite being overdue on his meds, works out that the shot bystander was actually an FBI agent and killed deliberately by someone in the bank.

And so a game of cat and mouse begins as everyone tries to work out who the mysterious killer is as he (or she) strikes from the shadows again and again...

Extras

None

Overall

How did this film not do much better? The concept was good, but the execution is simply fantastic. This isn't a simple comedy either, it's also wrapped up in a whodunnit with the villains generally coming across as likeable characters, some of whom are killed during the running time - at least one in an extremely funny way despite the appearance of a badly burned body. Two opposing gangs robbing the same bank could have come across as forced but it's simply genius to have an extremely hi-tech professional crew against a bumbling pair of idiots with a penchant for blowing things up - even if their explosives have the instructions written in Chinese (this alone leads to a couple of brilliant laughs).

This is really a combination of comedy, the whodunnit and a rom-com. The rom com element is between Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd, and their chemistry is pretty good overall, but the rom com element is also the weakest, setting up an ending that feels a little forced. It's obvious what's going to happen but you just don't feel as if the 'will they/won't they?' question is resolved properly. That doesn't matter though when the comedy and the whodunnit elements are simply as good as this. It's also a mystery to start with as to how Judd's character fits in, but he is the glue that holds this film together, being the sleuth but obviously a smart but slightly unhinged one without a badge to spoil the party.

There's definately elements of farce and slapstick in this film, but not in an overtly obvious way, and overall it's more a comedy of errors. There's some great moments between the two sets of robbers, one in particular where they check out the most wanted lists on the FBI website to check how good each gang is - serving up a couple of clues at the same time as providing a few laughs. The resolution to the film is pretty good and should leave most viewers satisfied prior to the rather subdued and simplistic ending mentioned above. Maybe they struggled with the ending, but it's the only thing that lets this film down and despite that, I can see myself watching this again as it is a proper character film, with some superb one liners thrown in for just about everyone.

Rather superb and recommended.