Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110324 in VHS
• Released on: 2001-10-30
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Customer Reviews

Good Movie but Needs to Jettison Gangster Subplot
It seems to me that almost everyone who writes or directs a movie these days throws gangsters into the potpourri of their films. And I do mean that exact word "throws." This is otherwise a very human scale romantic comedy and drama vehicle very ably acted by Sharon Stone, as a woman in need of rescue from a life lived too close to the edge, and Billy Connolly, a rock of a man beloved by all. They are an unlikely pairing but it works. The jist of their plot is whether Stone's character can finally settle down with a worthwhile guy (Joe) instead of the marginal losers she normally ends up with. Then there is the whole gangster subplot which involves gangsters after both Stone and Connolly with reasoning and results so convoluted that all you can do is groan when they come onscreen again. Maybe these movies get financed when the producers hear the word "gangsters." I can come up with no other reason why they are being inserted into every other film I am seeing these days.

Stone and Connolly a Winning Team
This 2000 black comedy from the United Kingdom began as if it were going to be a tearjerker, but with the right touch came off as an inspirational film where two people find each other at difficult moments and eventually happiness. Billy Connolly, the world famous comic from Glasgow, and sexy Sharon Stone comprise the initial odd couple that in the end fulfill each other's needs.

Connolly's plight is far more tragic than Stone's in that he is handed a potential death sentence by his New York City doctor. At the very time that he needs sympathy and understanding he comes home and finds his wife sharing his bed with another man. She tells him bluntly about her intention to seek a divorce because she finds him totally boring. He does not tell her what he has just heard from his doctor.

The scene then shifts to Churchill Downs in Kentucky, where Connolly has gone to gain a needed change of scenery. He is betting on the races and doing it foolishly, without any semblance of strategy. Horseplayer Sharon Stone sees him there. After latching on to him as a potential means of helping her financially, she gives him up when he hands all his track winnings to two nuns, causing her to conclude that he is a loser as she walks him away and leaves him standing in the distance watching her.

Connolly meets Stone again at the strip club where she formerly danced and now supervises. He catches her at a bad time, when an old live in love that now works for the mob is seeking to obtain money she owes. Eventually Connolly takes Stone home. Just as she is again about to end their association she realizes what an effective housekeeper he is when she is at the club and that her two young children like him.

Just as Connolly, Stone, and the two children are making very much like a family a problem ensues and the mob is in hot pursuit. For one thing, the local Kentucky mob boss played by Ian Holm has mistaken Connolly for a famous New York syndicate head, has let him off the hook on the debt, and has angered his superiors. Gil Bellows does a superb job of playing the highly incompetent former love of Stone who invests the role of enforcer with Inspector Clousseau comedic clumsiness. Holm is plenty clumsy himself and the film is one that focuses on comic deficiencies of the mob figures rather than ruthless and violent efficiency.

The Kentucky mob ultimately pursues Connolly and Stone to Las Vegas after she has told her girlfriend where she is going, never dreaming that she will report back to her enemies. Eventually the pair will find happiness after some unique surprise twists involving the mob figures.

Stephen Metcalfe wrote a fine script and directed as well. He deftly spun two character arcs in the film, that of Connolly abandoning his former cautiously boring demeanor as he becomes associated with Stone. At the same time, Stone, while bringing Connolly out, admires his stable qualities and tones down her erratic conduct and savage temper.

Billy Connolly at his acting best
I was delightfully surprised to see Sharon Stone and Billy Connolly in a movie together. An unlikely match, you say! But the story and plot were superb! Billy has toned down his humor, but it shines through. Sharon was an excellent love interest for him. He plays his role with tenderness, humor, bravado, and extreme likability. She has a role which is not typical for her, nevertheless a good one. I highly recommend watching this movie.