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Lucky Break [2001] | ![Lucky Break [2001]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514MGK0GV0L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Peter Cattaneo
Actors: James Nesbitt, Timothy Spall, Olivia Williams, Christopher Plummer, Bill Nighy
Studio: Cinema Club
Category: Video
List Price: £5.99
Buy New: £1.64
You Save: £4.35 (73%)
New (5) Used (7) from £0.39
Rating:  3 reviews
Format: Closed-captioned, Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 103 Minutes
EAN: 5014138297879
ASIN: B00005UQW5
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
Release Date: July 14, 2003
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: brand new - immediate dispatch
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| Editorial 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
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| Customer Reviews:
 Surprisingly awful December 15, 2006
Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
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.
 Entertaining November 13, 2007
M. A. Ramos (Florida USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
One thing going for it. February 11, 2008
Em
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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