The wacky, but not so funny, The Con is On arrives on Blu-ray and Digital HD. The comedy has a lot of fine actors in the many characters of James Okley’s script, but trying to accept the acerbic dialogue becomes tiresome and overly rude. Also while the movie does try to entertain, the worn-out storyline just isn’t original enough to make the film creatively comedic. Easily predictable and with the acting questionable, it’s more of an oddity than a display of good humor. And if you take out the foul and rude language, there would probably be very little dialogue at all.
The film opens outside St. Paul’s Cathedral in London with Harriet Fox (Uma Thurman) completing a drug deal with a nun saying she was there on behalf of Irina Solokov (Maggie Q). She brings the money to her husband Peter (Tim Roth) who is Irina’s go-between. Enjoying a night of gambling and drugs, the two frit the payoff money away. Now on the run, they head for Los Angeles where they meet with long time partner in crime Sydney (Stephen Fry). Sydney tells them that Irina has put a price on their head if the money is not brought to her. In order to get away from a possible hit, they take a deal offered by Sydney to make an opium delivery.
Later, when Sydney gets confronted by Irina, he makes a deal for his life against finding Harriet for her. So beings a tale of cat and mouse as the two on the run try to avoid death and worse. Director James Okley takes on his first big star cast and attempts to make it exciting and comedic. He throws in a tryst, an ongoing threat of divorce, a valuable piece of jewelry that would get Harriet off the hook with Irina, and a lot of foolery.
It’s not The Pink Panther or any of the Spy vs Spy spoofs that make use of running gags and ridicules situations. Most of Okley’s comedy surrounds the rich and Hollywood famous in this spoof revolving around a drug buy gone bad. In The Con is On we get a lot of nonsense including arguments on who had the best flight or the most expensive massage. Okley throws in a plethora of rudeness with embarrassing sex offers by both straight and gay and the use of explicit derogatory language when characters express their disdain for each other. Most of his sight gags involve the use of drugs by pill popping Peter Fox (Tim Roth). And if he can’t get high Peter settles for any kind of liquor he can get his hands on
As for the comedy, nothing works in this film from the situation misdirection to the hackneyed one-liners. The brunt of the laughs involve women beating up on the men and each other. The funniest scene in the show centers on a misunderstanding between Jackie’s (Alice Eve) Chihuahua, a dog whisperer (a disguise by Irina) and Jackie’s Hispanic cook. If they are not swinging it out, they’re yelling and ranting to the point of my wanting to turn down the sound. Explicit language degrading remarks using female body parts as key words, doesn’t get laughs for their shock value and especially because the timing is way off on the chastisement.
As far as the acting goes, the film has many well-known actors in it and most of which do not belong in the folly. When you go to Uma Thurman’s film listing on IMDb you’ll see stellar roles in films like Kill Bill, The Producers, Pulp Fiction, and Les Miserables. But, this clunker’s a negative on her list of 64 film credits. She has done comedy before and does it well under better filmmaking.
That also goes for Maggie Q who plays the venomous Irina who shoots anyone who crosses her without warning. It’s even more violent than her role in TV’s “Designated Survivor” where she steals the whole show. And not the best character for Tim Roth either as here he plays the drunken or drugged out Peter who stumbles his way through his role. His long list of films include stellar performances in The Hateful Eight, Hardcore Harry and as Gov. George Wallace in the critically acclaimed Selma. Tim has been in the business for many years and has amassed over 100 credits. Of the ones I’ve seen, I don’t remember a bad performance ever.
She has found a good home on “Modern Family”, but here Sofia Vergara gets miscast as a foulmouthed vixen Vivien who wants her director Gabriel Anderson (played by Crispin Glover) to leave his wife Jackie (played by Alice Eve) for her. The small part could have been very funny, but doesn’t work in a comedic sense. In one scene Gabriel takes Vivien to his bedroom where she insists on making love to him. The scene takes 25 seconds and Vergara’s dialogue consists of 26 words with the F word used 8 times and the P word once. A bit over the top for the actress and a performance that’s way under her ability.
The Con is On has been rated R by the MPAA for language throughout, drug and alcohol use, some sexual content and violence. The violence is very offhanded with quick gun shots to the body of several men by Irina for not carrying out orders
FINAL ANALYSIS: A stunner of a bummer. (1.5 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Maggie Q, Sofia Vergara, Alice Eve, Posey Parker, Wilmer Calderon, and Crispin Glover
Director and writer: James Okley
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, drug and alcohol use, some sexual content and violence
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Running Time: 1hr. 30 min.
Video Release Date: July 24, 2018
Original Theatrical Release Date: May 25, 2018
Language: English
Reviewed Format: Blu-Ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video: Widescreen, 1080p Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc and a Digital redemption code
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
