The Actors film review

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THE ACTORS

The difficulty in making films about the acting profession, and especially about bad actors, is that you actually need very good performers to carry it off. This is very obvious in the new comedy The Actors from Neil Jordan's production company in which Michael Caine steals the show from his younger co-star.

Caine plays Anthony O' Malley, a down-on-his luck luvvie who has seen better days. Playing the hunch-back king in a startlingly bad Nazi version of Richard III, he dreams of greater glory and the money to live the superstar lifestyle he has always coveted. When he begins to frequent a seedy pub in Dublin in order to research his part he comes across such an opportunity. But instead of acting onstage he desperately needs someone who can act various roles in order to hoodwink a few gangsters out of a case full of cash.

Enter Dylan Moran, a fellow member of O'Malley's acting company and something of a young buck who regards the senior actor as an inspiration. He is readily convinced that he can pull off the scam and soon enters the underground world of Barreller (Michael Gambon) in order to cheat him out of some hard-earned cash. Along the way he falls for Barreller's daughter (Lena Headey) and is torn between keeping the ruse going and spilling the beans to his new love.

The film begins very well and in its favor does manage to rattle along for most of its running time. The scenes depicting Caine's ineptitude as an actor as well as the despair he feels as not having achieved anything are both hilarious and touching, thanks largely to Caine's perfect timing and willingness to throw himself into the role.

But the first major problem of the film comes in the casting of Moran, better known for his TV sitcoms such as Black Books. The admittedly funny stand-up is way out of his depth here, and his delivery is consistently shouty and unbelievable. Alongside Caine, Gambon, Headey and latterly Miranda Richardson, he is cruelly exposed in his debut lead role.

The second aspect to gripe about is the decision to rush into a plot which is perfunctory to say the least. No-one is really interested in the money being stolen, but everyone is interested in Caine's character and his poor acting onstage. Perhaps it would have been a very different film, but as a slice of life it might have been more enjoyable.