If I said that Circus is a British gangster movie, then I would imagine that half of you will stop reading this op. straight away and mentally make a note that Circus is movie to avoid. I wouldn't blame you and in fact I had done exactly the same thing as soon as I saw a trailer for it a couple of months ago. I had also heard a few less than complimentary reviews about it and the thought of seeing Brian Connely and Eddie Izzard as gangsters didn't do much to whet the appetite either. However, a combination of boredom, being broke and...well someone else renting it, having work to do and looking for any excuse to do otherwise, I ended up watching it last night.

Then wishing I hadn't bothered.

The plot, for what you can make out because it gets so twisted along the way that you'll lose sight of the plot is basically that a hitman wants to retire and is given the opportunity by his crime boss. He offers him the chance to run his casino in Brighton, but he must first carry out one last hit - the murder of a rich man's wife. He does the deed then things get complicated, with a whole bunch of plots and sub-plots revealing themselves and along the way the arrival of £20 million into the bargain. The entire movie is basically a bunch of different crooks trying to end up with the money themselves by stabbing everyone else in the back as they go.

Circus is a movie which is so convoluted, so full of lies, deceit, backstabbing, double-crossing etc. that you eventually lose sight of what the plot is. Every single one of its cast members seems to be screwing ever single other one of the cast members in every which way you can possibly think of. The plot twists and turns so much that you'll feel like a drunken rodeo rider at the end of it and I found myself wanting to get off by halfway. You see, one plot twist is good, it keeps you on your toes, a couple is excellent because we all hate workig out the ending to a movie before it
gets there, but Circus, with its 1001 twists is just ridiculous. When you have a group of characters who are all so devoid of loyalty, sense of duty or even humanity it becomes almost impossible to like any of them and therefore impossible to care what exactly happens to them. By halfway I couldn't have cared if they all got killed and someone outside of the story so far pocketed the money - in fact I was somewhat expecting this in another stupid plot twist.

When you think anything can happen a movie become suspensful - when everything DOES happen its not suspensful at all - in fact its a bloody mess and that is exactly what Circus presents you with. Think of it as the blueprint to Snatch, a movie which used the same formula and got it so right where Circus gets it so wrong. The acting is ok although its difficult to concentrate too hard when you have Eddie Izzard flauncing about the place and Brian Connely trying to look tough. Its even harder to concentrate when you keep seeing British actors who have been on the television in ermm...something or other, and you sit their trying to think what it was - or have a room full of other people asking the same questions. You have to question the characterisation here though. Obviously a movie such as this needs strongly developed, interesting character to hold your interest but it needn't come across as a freakshow despite the name of the movie. A debt collector who sings his conversations to the tune of 80s pop songs, a huge over-sensitive bodyguard who drives an Austin Mini, a bank robber who dresses in cowboy clothing...and so on.

Circus is obviously trying to add itself to the list of clever gangster movies and fails to do so in miserable style. Its not clever, its just bright, flashy and generally a big ole mess. Lock Stock works, Pulp Fiction works, The Usual Suspects works...Circus, is just another in the long list of poor contenders trying to emulate the great characterisation, satire an
d even genius of those movies. When the entire movies comes down to "who's lying" and you know the answer is "all of them!" after the first 20 minutes then there really isn't much else to say about it. Its not the worst British gangster movie made in recent years, but its not exactly worth the rental price either.