Gambit

   After a few hard hitting films, Colin Firth has taken a turn towards the comedic side. Gambit is about Harry Deane (Colin Firth) an art curator who tries to pull a fast one on his much hated boss Lionel Shahbandar (Alan Rickman) by trying to sell him a fake Monet. However, Deane's clumsiness and the unpredictability of a Texan rodeo clown called PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz), means it is far from plain sailing.
   There's plenty of comedy, coming from all corners of the cast, the majority centreing around the slapstick variety. The hotel scene in which trouser-less Harry Deane gets in a muddle as he stumbles from one room to the next, is a great sequence of hilarity. It is also the first time I have laughed at a fart joke in quite some time.
   This is written by the very talented Coen brothers and though it is a film with a lot of laughs, Colin Firth and Alan Rickman are stereotypically English. Rickman is the rich cynical upper class bastard and Firth is the doddery, foolish yet charming Englishman. It feels very much like an American view on us Brits.
   Nevertheless, Gambit is an enjoyable film that has the laughs, twists and characters to connect with and I recommend it as a film with which you can sit back, relax and enjoy.

For fans of twists, humour and Britishness.

Stars ***